


Unseen, Not Untrue

by Dewsparkle



Series: Little Stories of the Avenging Kind [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Brainwashed Loki, Child Abuse, He's very good at keeping secrets, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, Human Experimentation, Innocent Loki, M/M, Mutant Tony Stark, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Parental Charles Xavier, Parental Ororo Munroe, Past Child Abuse, Past Torture, People are mean to Tony, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is the only one with a brain, Tony Stark-centric, Tony tries to not be a mutant, Torture, Uses his powers sparingly, Wordcount: Over 20.000, until he isn't
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-09-20 06:04:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9478754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dewsparkle/pseuds/Dewsparkle
Summary: Tony Stark has been named many things, as false or true as they may be. But the one thing he has never been accused of is being a mutant.Tony has been hiding who and what he is from everyone around him for as long as he can remember. What will happen when his control finally cracks and someone peeks through and someone discovers him for who he truly is?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my new story! ...again.
> 
> This was originally intended to be a very long shot, but I was advised by a few people (randoms whom I told the word count to on a different site) that I should split this into chapters. So, here we are.
> 
> I hope you like this, I've been in the process of writing this for quite a few months. For those waiting on chapters from some of my other stories- I'm sorry, but I promise I will be getting back to them soon. I've got less time to write as I've just started my final year of school, so :P But I'll do my best.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Tony Stark was many things. He was a billionaire, having inherited his father's multi-million-dollar company and worked until he'd made it into a multi-billion dollar one. He was a playboy and alcoholic, per the rumors spread by the media, and however untrue, he made no move to correct that assumption.

He was also a certified genius, with the brains and inventions to prove it- and JARVIS. He was a philanthropist: the Maria Stark Foundation had been running since the time of her death, to honour the things she wanted to do to help the world in any way she could but never had the time to. (Because she was a bit preoccupied getting high, not that many people knew, but she had still attended charity galas and donated to them on the occasion. It was the principle of the thing that mattered, keeping up the Stark image, as Howard would no doubt say.)

The public called him egotistical, which was not entirely false as it was a side effect of always being the smartest person in the room, and a narcissistic asshole, which was only true in public. They called him self-obsessed, selfish and uncaring of others besides himself. Heartless. Monster. Killer. Scumbag. No respect for anyone else.

_Merchant of Death_.

But the one thing they had never called him was mutant.

~~~

When Anthony Edward Stark was five years of age, he discovered he was a mutant. Scared and alone, with a father who despised and wished to exploit people like him for war, Tony hid.

People call him incapable of feeling emotion. If only that were true, because Tony could feel them  _all_.

He first realised there was something wrong when he began experiencing violent mood swings for no apparent reason, especially when around a lot of people. Feelings and emotions swarming his mind from nowhere and everywhere, clouding his senses in a thick fog to the point that he was sure they couldn't  _all_  be his, because how could one person feel so much on their own? The feelings were always making it hard to think and discern what exactly it  _was_  that he was feeling, let alone whether the emotion was actually his in the first place.

Jarvis, Edwin Jarvis that is, had found him hiding in a closet during one of his father's larger parties about a month and a half later, shaking in fear and gripping his head as if that would ward off everything going on in his head. Jarvis was kind and fair, and Tony always saw him frown in disapproval when Howard went on one of his mutant tirades and quietly usher him from the room when he could.

Tony had been distraught and had cried into the butler's suit jacket while the older man rubbed his back and gently carried him to a safe place to talk, his mere presence warding off most of the invading emotion and allowing the small boy room to breathe. 

Tony told Jarvis what was happening after much prodding and gentle but firm promises, (including a pinkie promise, because pinkie promises were unbreakable contracts. Mrs Jarvis had taught him that when he was three), not to tell anyone. The man had kindly explained he was a mutant, making sure to leave no room for doubt that Jarvis would think him any different because of it.

Tony Stark was an empath. And a powerful one at that, per the old Butlers estimates (apparently, his late wife Ana had a small empathy ability, which was a large comfort to the young boy as he had very much liked her when he met her that one time when he was three), considering his young age and the apparent intensity of his mutation. 

That same year, albeit five months later, Tony built a small robot dog (if it could be called that, as it only vaguely resembled one, with four legs and what was probably a head and a little dangling bit that  _could_  be called a tail) because he was unable to have a real one, and it became his very first friend aside from Edwin Jarvis. It was crude and barely did much on its own without remote help, but it was a huge accomplishment for the young boy.

He discovered his empathy seemingly also extended to machines, in a way. He had noticed with Buddy, the dog, that he could kind of see his programming at work. He could almost feel the data that ran through his bot friend as well as what appeared to be the electricity that kept him 'alive', he could even direct the bot's movements if he concentrated hard enough when Buddy got himself stuck where his programming failed him, though it left him exhausted afterwards and it was very limited. 

Sometimes he thought he saw something similar in the television, or a computer if he looked close enough, but again, it was difficult. As he grew, he found that the more he knew about the object, the easier it was for him to see how it worked and interact with, but he could only do so much. (Many years later as an adult, he used it mostly with the suit to tell it what to do while he was driving it, just to make it easier as JARVIS could only do so much.)

Tony Stark, son of a well-known mutant hater, was a mutant with some technopathic powers that appeared to stem from his empathy. Later he decided it was probably because he formed better emotional connections to machines instead of actual people, so it only made sense for his mutation to adapt when he often also saw them as people more than he saw people as people. As strange as that sounded. That and his intelligence allowed him to understand them better than he did humans with his limited exposure to them.

Growing up, even before he'd discovered he was a mutant, Tony had borne the brunt of his father's abuse. Both physical and emotional. Although the extent of the latter was more damaging than anyone but Jarvis could have known or realised once his empathy manifested itself.

Now, instead of being able to ignore it, he could feel the hatred and disappointment roll off Howard in waves, like water hitting land during a rather frightful storm. Anger and resentment and worthlessness was directed at Tony on a daily basis because he wasn't good enough and never would be for his father. Maria made Tony feel sick, the drugs in her system were constantly pulling her emotions out of whack, causing his head to ache something fierce and his stomach to roll with nausea within a few minutes of being in the same room as her.

Jarvis had been his rock, the only thing that managed to keep him sane. Kindness and love and caring and pure unadulterated, silencing,  _calm_  radiated off the butler whenever Tony was nearby. Jarvis always seemed to know when Tony needed him and always made sure Tony knew he wasn't alone, and that there was nothing wrong with him despite what his fath- Howard told him or said about mutants. It was always Jarvis who helped clean the new and too suspicious for the hospital cuts, bruises and burns gained from Howard's most recent bout of frustration and bottle of drink.

Tony had been starting to believe that maybe it could be true. That maybe he wasn't worthless or a freak. Then Jarvis died a few days after a severe heart attack and Tony was alone.

Left to grieve alone at seven years old, with Howard's oppressive and hostile emotions pressing against the weak walls Jarvis had helped him to painstakingly build around himself to block out as much unwanted emotion as possible, quickly began to take its toll on his young and still developing mind.

Tony sought even further solace in his creations (the ones he managed to keep hidden from Howard for any length of time at the very least) and shunned the world around him as much as possible, unable to cope with people the way Jarvis had helped him to do when he was alive. 

He continued to try and impress his father in vain. He tried everything he could think of so that his father's emotions wouldn't hurt him so much, but nothing worked. He'd never been to school with people his own age, or at all really because Howard didn't want him mixing with the 'wrong sort', which did nothing to help his social skills.

Sure, he could usually throw on a mask, charm and talk his way through, under, over, and around most any situation thrown at him when he had to as he got older. But when he was younger it only worked around people he didn't know. It never worked on those who knew him, he was too scared to try it on Howard after that first incident. He learned to (mostly, as it wasn't possible to truly suppress emotion. The most he could do was dull it) suppress his empathy and was often seen as uncaring due to it, because a side effect of it was suppressing his own emotions as best as possible to compensate for the lack of outside input.

There had been one vicious incident when he was six with one of Howard's inebriated female 'friends' that had ended with him being forced to hold hot lumps of coal in his hands, after she had drunkenly tried to force herself on him for unknown reasons. Howard had decided that Tony had encouraged her, due to a shock induced lack of response, and needed to be punished. There were many more incidences with various other objects of the same nature (pain inducing) throughout his childhood as well. He didn't much like to be handed things anymore.

He understood people's emotions too much and he hated it. There had been times when he was younger and in less control where he had feared he had changed the way someone was feeling without meaning to. He never had, but it never ended well for him when he became consumed by the panic at the mere thought of manipulating someone like that. It was one of these times that Howard found him.

Tony was seven going on eight, and it had been just under a month since Jarvis had died and Tony was having trouble controlling his new mutation. Objects began to float of their own accord, lights flickering wherever he went, and it took too long to make it stop. He had been lucky enough to not get caught for as long as he had with the number of staff in the mansion.

Then Howard came home drunk, once again. With his walls up and own emotions in strife, Tony noticed too late that Howard was heading for him. Panic clenched at his gut and the objects he'd painstakingly spent the last half hour getting to obey the laws of gravity once again began to rise, plus a few more, before abruptly flinging outwards and smashing against the walls when the door was viciously kicked open and Howard stepped into the room.

Howard's bloodshot eyes widened, the red flush of alcohol on his cheeks growing an even more dangerous shade. With a half empty bottle of liquor in hand, his hazel gaze zeroed in on Tony, who was fearfully cowering in the corner of the room hoping to not be seen.

"You're one of those freaks! A  _mutant!_  I'll not have a  _freak_  in my house!"

Howard stormed forward and the room began to shake in warning, dust raining down on them where the plaster ceiling began to crack dangerously while Tony cringed further in on himself with a whimper of terror. A lamp in the corner of the room glowed bright and burst as Howard got closer, the glass falling unheard over the room's shaking.

The liquor bottle was smashed over the seven-year old's skull before much else could happen and the brunet abruptly fell into darkness, the room stilling in unnerving silence as his too small body slumped to the ground, blood trailing down his face where bits of glass stuck in his pale skin.


	2. Chapter 2

When Tony thinks he was next aware, he was strapped tightly to a cold metal table by his wrists, ankles and hips. His breathing quickened and his heart thudded against his chest, feeling like it was going to crack his sternum. His movements were sluggish and his vision swam in and out constantly. The room was dark, but he could almost make out the silhouette of various machines around him. He was confused and disorientated, his brain couldn't seem to provide the information he wanted it to, it was too fuzzy.

Tony tried to lift his arm, to see how much movement he had in the restraints. He could barely twist his wrist before feeling too tired to continue the attempt, but he felt a stab of pain where the two needles resided as he shifted. One in his hand and one in the crook of his elbow.

Tony doesn't know how long he was there, alone with nothing but the darkness for company. His body still felt strangely heavy and his vision refused to focus for more than a few seconds at a time. He guesses one of the needles must be pumping some kind of drug into his bloodstream, but he doesn't think that's the entire reason he feels so dizzy whenever he tries to turn his head to look for a door or window or  _anything_  that could help him escape.

He knew there was technology around him, there was a dull spark in the corner of his eye, but something, probably the drugs, was preventing him from getting the focus he needed to even attempt to do anything. He was trapped.

By the time there's a soft hiss of a mechanical door opening, he thinks it's been hours. He feels like he lost consciousness a few times but he can't be certain with no way to tell what time it was. There's a soft click and a spark that he would have missed had he not been looking towards the sound, and bright white light illuminates the room with another spark, forcing Tony to shut his eyes to prevent blinding himself.

Brown eyes blink open and he fails to suppress a soft whimper at the sight before him. Various machines with different information and data are scattered about the room and he's hooked up in some way to what seems like at least nine of them. There's an IV in his hand, and another in the crook of his elbow with blood trickling down in its tube-  _his_  blood. But that's not what makes his blood run cold. There's a small metal table next to him, where his father- he now realizes, is fiddling with more than a few very...  _sharp_  looking items.

Unfortunately, his father hears his little involuntary noise and turns to look at Tony, a grin playing on his lips.

"Awake are we, Anthony?" Howard asks, turning back to the sharp things. "I'm surprised it's taken you so long to adapt enough to see straight. It's only been a few... months? I've lost count, but well, no matter, we both know just how weak you are, now don't we, freak? Hmm?"

_Months?_  Tony wonders in confusion and then he remembers with sudden clarity, fragments of broken memories rushing into him like a tsunami in no linear order that makes his head spin. 

The tests and experiments, the chemicals that burned him inside out and made him so sure he was dying. His skin tearing from sharp blades. He remembers the beatings he got when Howard didn't get the results he wanted while he cowered in a corner of his dark room, barely able to lay on the floor through the pain. The smell and agonizing burn of fresh alcohol as it was poured over the larger lacerations in his skin.

_"Keep you clean, you worthless shit."_  Howard would tell him. Or, well, more like slur vaguely in his general direction.  _"Can't test you if you die, now can we?"_

He has long since learned to ignore the twists of hunger in his gut. His throat is always dry and hoarse from crying and screaming for it to stop, for someone to save him,  _to kill him_  and  _end it all_ so he can be with Jarvis and his wife Ana whom he only met once when he was very small, but Jarvis married her so she must be always kind like he was.

He still has fresh wounds from what he thinks must be days ago, or hours, he can't quite remember as time has no meaning in this dark room. There hasn't been any alcohol for a while now, and he realizes when he feels oddly warm on the freezing table, though it could be his imagination. It could be an infection. He hopes it is because then maybe it'll kill him.

He's brought out of his momentary daze when he hears a sharp clang of a metal object hitting another. Tony's eyes are wide with fear when Howard turns back to him again, a wicked sharp scalpel tucked neatly in his latex covered palm and a sick feeling of pleasure and anticipation wafting around him.

As Howard covers the small distance to the metal table where Tony lay, he's overcome with a sudden bout of panic and tries desperately to back away, mostly understanding what is about to happen, but he can barely muster up the strength to squirm as much as he does. Howard merely chuckles at his useless attempts, breath smelling like a mixture of vodka and whiskey. Not good. Very not good.

"Now now, none of that, Anthony, you need to help me find the Captain." And with that said and nothing more. He slices a deep blood soaked 'V' from below his shoulders to his sternum. Tears stream down Tony's face instantly and his throat is already protesting with pain from screaming. 

Howard presses the scalpel once again to Tony's bare chest at the center of his breastbone, where the tip of the 'V' is. The sharp metal has no trouble sliding through his pale and sweat slick skin, drawing a straight line of warm blood within seconds that trails off his chest and joins the other pools of scarlet on the table around him. Black spots dance in the young boy's vision.

Howard continues to ignore his son's agony and drags the blade downwards to just above his navel, uncaring of the chest that is rising and falling frantically in too short breaths with a rabbiting heartbeat. Then Tony watches as he starts to pull the skin to the side as if it were simply a blanket to be thrown off one's self in the morning. And through it all, Tony  _screams_ like he never has before.

Suddenly the heaviness in his limbs and mind are gone and replaced with nothing but such immense  _pain_  and  _terror._ The lights begin to flicker and a few of the machines screech warnings before being abruptly cut off when their screens shatter and their metal casings crumple not unlike an aluminium can. The room shakes and the light bulbs blaze bright before bursting overhead in a shower of hot glass.

Vaguely he can hear Howard shouting or cursing, or maybe both, he can't tell. It feels like a long time before he passes out from blood loss and exhaustion, and by that time the room is already in ruins.

~~~

Tony isn't sure how long he's been unconscious, or how he's even still alive, but when he opens his eyes, he hears voices. There's sound behind the door of the destroyed room. He doesn't recognize them and a sliver of hope rises in his chest, even as his terror tries to shove it down. He tries to call for help, but his voice refuses to make any sound but a low and shapeless keen.

The part of the wall where the door is starts to turn red with heat and is kicked off its hinges a moment later.

_Help_. He thinks helplessly, desperately, as the people enter the dark room, trying to will his voice to work.  _Please._  He whimpers in pain from breathing too deeply and suddenly there's someone next to him.  _How did they get there?_ Tony tenses in fear, vision too blurry to make out anything other than the silhouette of the person before him.

There's a gasp somewhere above him. Or is it to the side? He hears noise, it sounds feminine but he can't understand what she's saying. In some part of his brain he registers that he can feel anger, disgust and hatred floating around the strangers and that makes him scared, more than he already is. When those emotions were near him it always ended in pain.

Something shifts and a scream of agony tears from his throat, as if hearing his thoughts. Eyes newly wet and chest heaving shallowly with choked gasps, he thinks his skin has been pulled back to where it should be on his torso, covering his insides once more. There are hands pressed against him to stop the bleeding but it's hard to breathe, not only because of the pain. He feebly tries to shift but his limbs refuse to move, but he doesn't know if it's because he's still restrained or not. He can barely feel his fingers. The feminine voice returns when he tries, though, so maybe he did move a bit?

_Someone's touching me- please no, don't hurt me! No no no no no not again, no more-_  Tony's panicked thoughts are smoothly cut off by a calm sounding voice that reverberates around his head.

_"Anthony-"_ Tony whimpers fearfully, mind quickly beginning to spiral off before he's cut off again. " _Tony, my name is Charles Xavier and we are here to help. The lady next to you is currently tending to your wounds and Scott is clearing a way out. We are mutants, like you. You're safe now, we're not going to hurt you."_

The voice- Charles, repeats the last sentence over and over until Tony's muscles mostly release their tension and his heart isn't stuttering with panic as much anymore. The energy keeping him awake is quickly washed away and Tony feels himself falling into darkness once again. He thinks he feels someone undo the restraints and two sets of warm hands picking him up before he loses consciousness, the warm reassurances in his head continue to tell him that he's safe and no one was going to hurt him again.

He really hoped it was true.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention in the first two chapters, but this may read a bit strange. I just warn you that it might feel a bit summary-ish in some places because I had written this as a Long Shot, but was convinced to revert to chapters due to the length. Sorry if that bothers you... :P
> 
> Also, major thanks to Reesachan (Clymenestra) for the new title of this story! :D
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like this! Most of this is prewritten, so I'll try and post a chapter every few days. Enjoy :)
> 
> *EDITED: Sorry, forgot about 2,000 words at the end!

Tony blinks his eyes open an unknown amount of time later, but other than a dull twinge in his chest, he doesn't really feel any pain. He tenses immediately when he sees an unfamiliar white room. He's lying down again and for a moment all he can think of is that metal table and _oh my god please no not again-_

Someone- a woman walks into his field of vision and all thoughts stop at the sight of her. Her skin was a beautiful dark copper colour and her hair was stark white, a startling contrast that instantly catches his attention, with warm brown eyes that meet with his own. He can feel the concern and love, calm and kindness and relief floating peacefully around her. He smells ozone as she kneels slowly next to him. He shifts away slightly and was shocked to realise he wasn't strapped down and the table- no _bed_ was soft and there was a light weight, but warm comforter draped over his small body.

Tony's brown eyes dart around the room again. It looks like a hospital room, only homelier and with stranger technology. He catches himself wondering how it works, what's different about it and why, pulling his gaze away from the sparks that surround him in the room. It's comforting to know he can focus on them now if he wants too. His gaze falls back to the white-haired woman and belatedly notices she's speaking to him.

"... you feeling?" He hears her say, looking at him questioningly. Tony frowns, brows pulling inwards as he swallows and tries to speak. He coughs harshly and it brings agony to his chest. He instinctively curls inwards around the pain.

He feels someone's hands on his shoulders and he yelps, yanking himself away. He hits the floor with a gasp and sees the lights in the room flicker as his vision grays out for a moment and that the woman is pinned against the opposite wall with the bed he'd just vacated.

He whimpers in fear and tries to drag himself away, but his arms won't support his weight, despite how little it is.

" _I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."_ He mutters hoarsely, creating more of a breathy rasping sound than any literate syllables. His voice was too dry and unused to speaking, instead of screaming, for the words to sound the way they were supposed to. He can't breathe. His chest is squeezing the air from his lungs and there's blood on his chest, on his hand. The woman is crouching in front of him and he doesn't know how or when she got there and _please no don't hurt me I didn't mean to-_

 _"Tony."_ A familiar voice says in his head. " _Tony it's okay, you're safe. No one is going to hurt you. She just wants to help. You're safe here, nothing bad is going to happen."_

 _But the blood-_ Tony thinks in panic. _It's everywhere- there's too much, I can't-_

_"Tony, it's alright. You've torn some of your stitches, that is why you're bleeding. You are safe, Tony. That man can never hurt you again, I promise."_

And for some reason Tony believes him. He calms down enough so he can breathe after a few minutes and looks at his chest. There are indeed small black stitches neatly sealing his skin in a large 'Y' and not as much blood as he'd first thought. He looks away from them and somewhere into the middle distance before he can think too much about how he got those horrific incisions in the first place. Live dissection was not something he needed to think about. Ever.

The dark-skinned woman is still in front of him, quietly murmuring assurances to him. He meets her eyes and gives a small smile that really is nothing more than the barest twitch of his lips, but she seems to see it for what it is either way. He goes to speak again but she stops him, handing him a glass of water instead. She shifts his head onto her thigh- he realizes he was lying on the floor, and tilts his head so he can drink.

He sips at the water greedily, well he tries to at least, knowing he had to drink it slowly or he'd make himself sick, but at the same time he's desperately wanted water for so long it hurts to think about. The cool liquid soothes his aching throat and wets his chapped lips. She helps him to slowly finish off as much of the glass as he can manage and carefully picks him up. Tony tenses as soon as she does, his breathing picking up and almost entering another panic attack before it's over and he's back to lying on the startlingly soft mattress.

Tony takes a deep, calming breath and looks around once again, pushing himself up against the pillows a bit for a position closer to sitting, pointedly ignoring the woman's sounds of protest. He doesn't want to lie down, the thought of lying flat and vulnerable ever again scares him. After a few minutes of silence that Tony can't stand lest it drive him crazy or back to that dark room, he tries again to speak.

"Who-" He swallows thickly, forcefully ignoring and hating how terrible his voice sounds from disuse. "Who are you?" He finally manages to croak out, looking towards the woman but avoiding eye contact.

She smiles at him. Love, kindness, worry and relief he notes while he studies her face closely. "My name is Ororo, but most call me Storm." She replies with a slight accent that he can't place. He frowns at the name though, Storm? Why would she be called that?

As if reading his thoughts- or more likely his expression, she clarifies. "They call me Storm because I can control the weather." Tony nods, that made sense and explained the faint scent of ozone. So, she _was_ a mutant as well, the voice- Charles, he corrects himself after a moment, hadn't been lying.

"How did-" He coughs, cringing and pressing a hand against his chest as if to try and ease the pain. "Where am I?" He asks after taking another sip of water with the help of Ororo.

"You're at Xavier's school for gifted youngsters. In other words, you're at a school for mutants who need help controlling their powers and to keep them safe from anyone who wishes to do them harm." Comes a voice from the door. Tony starts in fear before he links it to the voice in his head and relaxes minutely.

An old man with a bald head wheels himself over in an electronic wheelchair, and a tall man with... blue fur? follows him in wearing a white lab coat. Tony shrinks away slightly when he moves towards and then past him to a cabinet not far from the bed. Tony watches them both warily, mistrust evident on his face as Ororo moves over slightly to make room for the bald man.

"My name is Charles Xavier; do you remember when we spoke?" He asks in a soft tone. Calm, caring, kindness. Tony nods once jerkily, not trusting his voice to work any further. Charles nods with a smile and speaks again. "Can you tell me your name?"

Tony hesitates, casting a fearful look at the blue man in the dreaded white lab coat. Howard sometimes wore one when he- _they were going to cut him open like Him nononono-_

"This is Doctor Hank McCoy. The children have grown fond of calling him Beast, though he is anything but." Charles has an air of fond amusement around him. At the mention of his name, the blue man, Hank, turns and gives him a warm smile and short wave before turning back to whatever it was he was doing. Tony forces himself to relax. The man said he was safe. The nice lady gave him water and helped him escape from the dark room.

"T-Tony Stark." He replies hesitantly. Watching their faces with wide eyes, he tenses and prepares to... well do _something_ if there's a bad reaction. Most people- especially mutants, did not think of the Stark's in a fond light, even if they were quite popular because of Howard's weapons and involvement with creating Captain America _and dear lord he did not want to think about that dreaded soldier right now._

Charles has no reaction to his name and neither does Ororo, but when he looks at Hank the man is staring at him in what seems to be shock, if his emotions are anything to go by. (It's kind of hard to see his expression through the fur if he's honest.) Tony shrinks back from the gaze.

"Alright Tony, how old are you?" Charles continues, still calm. Tony opens his mouth to reply but stops and closes it again with a frown. He _thinks_ he might be eight. He was seven when Howard-. But he doesn't know how long it's been. His frown deepens.

"E-eight?" He asks more that says, frowning at Ororo and Charles questioningly. There's a wave of worry and concern from the three people around him and it makes the frown crease his face further. Why would they be worried?

"Yes, that's right. You'll be nine in two months. May twenty-ninth, correct?" Tony stares at him in silent horror. Jarvis died in mid-June and it was nearly the end of July when-. That was about eight months. _Eight months._ He whimpers and felt tears prick at his eyes. Jarvis had been gone for over eight months and he'd been experimented on _for eight months._

Tony closed his eyes and took a few harsh breaths through his nose, forcing himself to calm. It was fine, he probably deserved it anyway. It comforts him to think he'd done something to deserve it, it's easier to accept that way. Taking one more calming breath, Tony opens his eyes once again and almost misses the frown on Charles' face, but he doesn't understand why it's there.

It's in this moment that Hank turns around and Tony's vision zeros in on the sharp curve of a suture needle barely visible in his large blue latex covered hand. He scrambles backwards against the headboard with a low keening sound of fear, pressing himself into it as much as he can, feet still scrambling on the white sheets as if it would help to push him through the wood. The lights flicker on and off and a few computer screens turn to static before dying, screens cracking.

Hank quickly puts the items down and raises his empty hands where Tony can see them and backs away. Ororo sits on the bed directly blocking his view of Hank, so he's forced to look at her instead. She slowly lifts a hand up in front of her and extends it to Tony's knee, rubbing circles into it with her thumb even when he flinches violently, but it makes his frantic movements lessen either way. There's a kind smile on her face as she speaks to him, even though the blood pounding behind his ears makes him deaf to her words.

It's a few minutes before he collapses limply against the headboard, hands still clenching and unclenching sporadically against the sheets. Storm shifts closer and puts her free hand on his shoulder. Tony's brown eyes refocus and flick up to hers and he finds himself moving into her, with her help, burrowing his face against her chest and curling his bony fists into the soft blue shirt she's wearing. Her arms wrap loosely around his back, rubbing it and the back of his head gently in a soothing way he'd imagined normal parents would do to comfort their child.

She shifts slightly so her chin can rest on his mop of brown hair, rocking them both back and forth slowly and he can't help but cry. The embrace is like nothing he could have imagined. It's the feeling of maternal affection that breaks him, even though he had seldom known this woman for more than what he thinks is an hour. Jarvis hugged him like a father, but he'd never had a mother hug him and he wonders how he's gone so long without. It's been so long since he's had anyone touch him without it hurting. He never let anyone but Jarvis touch him if he could help it, anyone else made him cringe.

Long after he's run out of tears, Ororo continues to hold him and whisper sweet nothings in his ear. Sometime later, he feels tired and all he wants to do is sleep. There had been voices conversing around him at some point, but he doesn't know what was said, too tired to try and listen.

Storm moves back, despite his weak resistance, but keeps her hands on his shoulders, for which he is grateful. He leans into them heavily, eyes already drooping with the exertion of the past... whatever.

"Tony... Tony, honey." He looks up at her slightly to show he's heard. "Tony I'm sorry but Doctor McCoy needs to fix the stitches or else you won't heal properly. Is that okay?" She asks softly, moving her head downwards to catch his drifting gaze. He looks over to where the blue man, now sans white coat, is silently observing. He looks down at his chest where the blood has dried on his skin and winces. He doesn't want more needles.

"Will it hurt?" He asks softly, already knowing the answer but asking anyway. He wants to know if they'd lie to him like Howard had, in the beginning anyway. Howard took enjoyment out of tormenting him with anticipation of such things.

Storm grimaces with a sad smile. "Yes, honey. It'll hurt, but Doctor McCoy will be as quick as possible. I'm sorry Tony, but we really do have to clean up the stitches."

Tony squeezes his eyes closed and nods. "Okay." He whispers, looking back to Storm. She smiles reassuringly and gives his shoulder a light squeeze. She gently guides him to lie down mostly flat, head propped up by two pillows.

He watches as Hank comes and sits beside him, placing a sterile metal tray on a table to his right so Tony can see what's on it. He picks up a cloth and dips it in a bowl of warm water and gently cleans the blood away from his chest and rubbing a disinfectant cream into his skin. He bites his lip at the sting and grips the bedding with white knuckles in preparation for pain.

He flinches when a slender hand gently eases his fingers from the sheets and rubs soothing circles onto the back of his hand. He looks gratefully over at Storm and turns back to Hank when he clears his throat.

"Alright Tony, I'm going to start now. You've only torn four of your stitches so it shouldn't take too long, okay? You ready? It'll hurt, but hopefully not too much." He assures, already holding a pair of scissors to cut away some of the thread from the torn stitches.

Tony nods and grips Storms hand as tightly as he can, which isn't very tight at all because he's still weak. "Had worse." He breathes as Hank moves to begin. The man hesitates for a moment, shooting Tony a sorrowful glance.

Hank's hands are steady as he cuts the excess string away. Tony hisses through his teeth when the string is carefully pulled out with only tiny beads of blood where his skin was re-broken. Doctor McCoy wipes the area clean with stinging antiseptic and Tony finds he likes this better than whatever alcohol Howard happened to have on him at the time, if at all.

When the needle pierces his skin, he can't stop the yelp of pain that escapes him, eyes closing of their own accord. He tries to twist away but Storm gently (and easily) holds him down with one arm and squeezes his hand. Fresh tears leak from his eyes and it feels like days before the doctor ties off the thread and cuts off the long end.

He breathes harshly through his mouth, focusing on the way his chest twinges when he inhales too deeply and it stretches the skin. Storm carefully helps him to sit up while Hank wraps white gauze around his chest and upper stomach.

"Sorry about that. Now, the stitches are going to be in for about another week at most so try not to strain yourself or you'll open them and we'll have to restitch them, okay?" Hank tells him sternly and Tony nods, eyes still closed. Hank smiles and pats him lightly on the shoulder, but Tony flinches and leans back instinctively towards Storm's comforting emotions. Hank doesn't seem offended and swiftly cleans and puts away his tools and leaves the room with a quick farewell at Charles and Storm.

Tony sighs and allows Ororo to help him into a soft cotton button up shirt so he doesn't have to lift his arms much and lays him back against the pillows. He feels himself drifting to sleep with Ororo still rubbing his hand and humming softly next to him. For the first time in many months, perhaps years, he thinks he finally feels safe.

~~~

Tony wakes up alone with the blanket pulled up to his shoulders and the lights dimmed enough to not be blinding, but not enough so he can't see the whole room. He sits up slowly and rubs absently at his chest. It doesn't hurt quite as much now, which is something he's very thankful for. When he checks under his shirt, he finds the skin is only slightly pink, which confuses him because that would suggest it had been a few days since it was restitched.

Pushing the blanket away from himself, Tony swings his legs to dangle off the bed, toes about thirty centimeters from the floor. He slowly slides to the ground and winces at the pins and needles in his feet as he stands on them, using the bed to keep himself upright until the feeling mostly passes.

He looks around the hospital like room and spots a door, the urge to make sure he isn't trapped driving him to try and leave, no matter what his self-preservation tells him is a bad idea. He slowly makes his way over to it and reaches for the handle, managing to get it open without too much effort. The hall he steps into is made of sterile looking metal, it looks quite futuristic and it makes him nervous, reminding him too much of Howard's lab.

Tony wanders slowly down the corridor, stopping to rest against the wall every few minutes to catch his breath. He was just about to start walking again when he hears a hiss and footsteps drift towards him. He stiffens in fear as the person wanders around the corner.

The man pauses in his stride when his gaze settles on where Tony is standing. He's a large man with black hair and thick sideburns and is wearing worn jeans and a white wife beater. Tony and the man stare at each other for a long moment before Tony moves to take a slow step backwards. This seems to break the trance they'd fallen in and the man frowns, walking towards him.

Tony's eyes widen and he quickly backs away three steps for every one the man takes.

"What are you doing down here?" The man growls, speeding up and Tony trips over the hem of the long pants he's wearing when he scrambles to get away and lands on the floor with a whimper as the impact stretches his chest slightly.

The large man is looming over him now, his expression angry. He tries to use his empathy to see if he is or not, but there's blood pounding behind his ears and suddenly it's not the strange man above him anymore but Howard.

His heart is thudding against his chest and he tries to drag himself away. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I won't do it again! Please don't hurt me, I'm sorry!" He's gasping for breath and midst his panic he realizes the lights have gone out and he can't see Howard anymore- or anyone for the matter.

His back hits a wall, forcing him to stop. Whimpering with fear he tucks his head between his knees and uses his arms to cover his head and the back of his neck. Bending so much hurts his chest, but thankfully not enough to cause problems with his stitches.

He doesn't know how long it's been, but as his breathing slows he hears a familiar tune being hummed above him and feels a pair of warm arms around his shoulders. He tenses for a second once he does, but the humming doesn't stop and the person is still rubbing his back. When he moves back they let him do so.

Tony tilts his head and sees Ororo looking down at him with a small smile, having stopped humming. Tony blinks in slight confusion and looks around. They're alone in the hallway and the lights have been turned back on. He sighs in relief and shifts to lean against Storms side again.

"All good, honey?" She asks. Kindness, calm, concern. Tony nods against her with a mumbled apology. She shushes him gently and gives him a gentle squeeze.

"I'm sorry you woke up alone, I only stepped out for a moment." She explains, guilt beginning to creep into her emotions. Tony doesn't like that, he doesn't want her to feel guilty because it was his fault he went wandering when he should have stayed in his room. Didn't he learn anything from the previous attempts to leave?

"S'not your fault." He tells her. He feels bad for making her think it was her fault. She was being nice to him and he was screwing it up because he was ungrateful and couldn't stay where he was supposed to. Even though it would have been fine if that man hadn't- he frowns. "Who was that man?" He asks hesitantly, pulling back so he can see her face.

Her expression darkness the smallest integer and Tony has to force himself not to shy away from it. Ororo sighs in exasperation and grimaces slightly. "That was Logan. I'm sorry you had to meet him like that. He's got a short temper and a permanent angry face, but he means well. He just got back from a personal trip and didn't know why you were down here alone, because students aren't normally allowed to wander in this area by themselves, especially the ones your age."

Tony nods, leaning away, gripping his right shoulder with his left arm, staring at the floor. Storm eventually helps him to stand and slowly leads the way back to his bed in the medical bay. She helps him to swallow a few spoon fulls of a light broth until his stomach can't handle anymore and they're forced to stop with the bowl still full. With a quick look to check he hadn't damaged his stitches, Ororo gently pulls the blanket up around him again and he falls asleep to the soft tune of her humming and a hand in his hair.

~~~

The next few years were honestly some of the best in Tony's life. The Professor set him up with his own room and a small workshop where he could invent to stave off anymore boredom induced... accidents. (Once was enough, and that incident was never to be spoken of again. Ever.) The stitches had stayed in for only a few more days before it was deemed safe to remove them, and even then, he was only allowed minimum movement for weeks after that. Not that he could really complain, it hurt too much to try anyway.

There were some hiccups, of course. At the beginning, it was difficult because of Howard's _very_ open and blatant hate for mutants, so he had been cornered more than a few times by some of the few students currently at the school.

Nobody but Charles, Scott and Ororo knew about what happened in the eight months (most, if not all anyway) his father had supposedly sent him to some prissy boarding school, to which he was 'still in attendance'. (Unfortunately, Howard had survived, telling the media one of his projects exploded and collapsed a room on him to explain the injuries when the press found out he'd been in hospital. The worst part was that it was true, because to Howard all he'd been was a project and nothing more. Never his son. Never even human.)

The panic attacks hadn't been fun, neither had the power outage he still had no idea how he'd caused in the mansion after three kids ambushed him. One of the kids had managed to land a punch and another nearly ripped his shirt off while the third held him down, therefore almost revealing the botched dissection scars among other smaller (relative to the one that is the length of his torso, that is) one's courtesy of his father. Most of them were tiny in comparison.

Ororo had practically become his surrogate mother, and was who Tony trusted most along with Charles, but he didn't really trust anyone else in the mansion. Charles taught him tricks to help with the panic attacks, (though the scars were still a trigger if he thought someone would see them), either to help stop or prevent them if possible, and how to help prevent his abilities- namely anything that wasn't his empathy- from activating during one. 

It worked remarkably well, after that one power outage his powers never played up during an attack, which he was immensely grateful for as he hated not having control of himself. It made him feel helpless and vulnerable all over again.

Charles had said his trust issues were perfectly normal and to be expected considering what he'd been through (especially so young, but that was left mostly unsaid because Tony didn't really _feel_ young anymore and Charles respected that), reasoning he'd be questioning either Tony's vast intelligence or sanity, or both, if he didn't when Tony wasn't easily convinced.

Eventually he had decided it was time to leave, and while he wanted to stay, he also wanted to pursue his interests properly which was something he was unable to do at the institute.

He left for MIT, met Rhodey (awesome, solid, calm, non-judging, understanding _Rhodey_ ), and graduated with more than a few PHDs in various engineering and hardcore science subjects at seventeen.

Charles and Ororo were unable to come to his graduation due to issues with the Brotherhood, but made sure to call to offer their congratulations and then visit at the next opportunity. That was perfectly fine with Tony, he could understand, he was just glad to know he had people who cared.

When he got the news that his parents died in a car crash on the way to the airport a month later, he didn't know what to feel. On one hand, Howard was dead. On the other hand, so was his mother. While his mother hadn't been there for him, she hadn't really done anything bad _to_ him intentionally either, unlike his father. She'd also been hit quite a lot as well, but she also hit back when she could. Howard liked hitting his son because Tony didn't (couldn't) hit back.

He went to their funeral, said a few things 'about his mother' (basically Ororo's traits as a mother figure) and quickly gritted out something 'about his father' (Jarvis before he died. He wished he didn't have to slander Jarvis' memory by pretending Howard had been kind like he had been), because it would be suspicious if he said otherwise. He didn't want the world to know that the famous Howard and Maria Stark weren't the good people they thought they were, as much as he was sure he'd have nightmares about for the next week to lie for them.

The media slandered him, as usual. Somehow, they had 'sources' saying he'd been drinking and getting laid in London when they died. He ignored them, neither denying or confirming the false claim. To the media, that was the same as admitting it was true. He was the centre of attention for a few weeks before the press grew board, going back to their usual stories of all the women who'd 'slept' with him this week. (In all honesty, only about three of the women had actually happened, and one of them had been a guy from his class.)

He went back to the mansion, plus one Dum-E and half a U, to stay with his only remaining family and hide from the press. He couldn't handle it right now, their questions triggered awful memories that came too close to a public panic attack for his comfort. And he'd been doing _so_ well too.

There were a few new kids at the mansion, only about fifteen in total now, and they adored Dum-E, as well as U when Tony finally finished him. Most of the students didn't know he was a mutant as they were new, but a few of them did from when he still went there, but since Tony never really interacted with them they would most likely forget as they got older. 

He knew they wouldn't tell anyone even if they did, because mutants looked out for their own. Besides, they risked outing themselves at the same time if they tried.

~~~

When he turned twenty-one, he took over Stark Industries from Obadiah Stane who'd been standing in until the Stark heir could take over. They wanted him to build weapons, and he did, but not all the time when he could get away with it. He worked more on defense in his spare time than offence when he could and pushed that out to the board as often as he could rather than the weapons they wanted. 

The military glared and grumbled when they didn't get that new rocket launcher they wanted, but instead better body armor and communications. It wasn't as often as he would have liked (i.e. almost never) but he continued to draw up schematics for things other than weapons when they came to him, storing them away for a later date when he had some free time.

Unfortunately, Tony couldn't just not make weapons, Stark Industries was a _weapons_ company after all. He finished creating JARVIS (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System) by the time he turned twenty-two and at twenty-three he'd finished hooking JARVIS up to his Malibu house to operate everything. From there JARVIS' programming was added to and improved until he was the most advanced learning AI in the world (and more), or the most advanced computer in the world that just happened to be sentient and a sarcastic smart-ass.

It was one of those times, in late January a few years later, where he'd been forced to make a big weapon and he was required for the demonstration. He invented things to see what could work and what was the most efficient. He wasn't interested in the 'my-boom-is-bigger-than-yours' thing the military had going on. Normally Obie did these dumb demonstrations for him, but this time he was unable to come so the job fell to Tony.

He was just getting ready to leave for Afghanistan when JARVIS interrupted him. "Sir, Professor Xavier is on the line."

"Put him through, J." Tony replied, double checking he had everything in the small suitcase. There was a beat of silence before the old professor's voice flitted through the unseen speakers in the room.

"Hello Tony, how are you?"

Tony couldn't help but grin. "I'm doing fine, how about you Professor? Brats giving you much trouble?"

Charles sighed in fond exasperation. "The children are doing fine, we have quite a few more now. We have our work cut out for ourselves."

Tony smiled, grabbing his suitcase and closing it. "You know, I could totally whip up something for the kids. You're a bit short on staff, I'm sure if you'd let me hook JARVIS-"

"No, Tony." You could _hear_ the smile in his voice. "Thank you but we'll do just fine without him. No offense JARVIS."

"It is quite alright, Professor." God dammit all even JARVIS sounded like he was smiling, and he didn't even have a mouth! Smug bastard.

Tony huffed, pouting, knowing JARVIS could see through his camera's. "Yeah, well, your loss. I'm still making you a new wheelchair, that thing is terrible. And you'll be getting better equipment for the kids. Those hunks of metal you call computers need to be melted down into something that actually works! I swear half of them are rusted. It's a tetanus hazard, Charles. You wouldn't want to subject those poor, innocent, children to a shot, would you? That's just cruel."

Charles huffed out an amused laugh. "I suppose that no matter what I say, there will be a rather large box on my porch next week, then?"

Once again grinning, Tony dropped his case off on the couch in the living room and made his way downstairs to say bye to his bots.

"Oh, you bet there will be Charlie-boy!"

JARVIS opened the workshop door as he approached and Tony was assaulted with the familiar hum his AI's gave off. U and Butterfingers swivelled around once he entered and chirped their happy greetings, U holding out his favourite spanner in his claw and twirling it in circles. Dum-E was suspiciously absent.

Tony was about to say something else to Charles when there was a whir directly behind him and before he could do more than spin towards the sound, he was covered in fire extinguisher foam. Tony coughed in surprise, glad his eyes had closed on reflex, and wiped some foam from his face with the back of his hand.

"Thanks Dummy." He drawled, flicking the foam at Dum-E's camera. Dum-E screeched in alarm and sped away still holding the fire extinguisher in his claw. U and Butterfingers chirped behind him in what he would swear to his dying day was laughter. Everyone was against him today. So unfair.

"Tony?" Damn that man for sounding so amused.

"All good. I was gonna be late anyway, what's another half hour in the grand scheme of things?"

"Late for what? Have I called at a bad time?"

"Oops?" He shrugged off his suit jacket and undid his tie, relieved that his undershirt had somehow come away unscathed. "Obie's making me go do a demonstration in Afghanistan. I don't want to go, but I have to." He sighed. "I really don't like making these weapons for the market. Sure, it's interesting to make and see what I can do, but that doesn't stop the fact they'll be used in war zones. They might save some people, but knowing the military they'll manage to screw it up even if it is my tech."

He heaved a sigh, leaning against the wall where Butterfingers was dusting what was probably the coffee machine. Not that it needed cleaning, considering it was used pretty much hourly.

"I just... I've done as little as I can on the weapons front. I've made things for defence instead of offence. I've worked on better hospital equipment but no-one seems to care and I can't push it through as often as I want to if I ever can. SI is a weapons company. Therefore, I have to make weapons and nothing more, according to the board." He sighed, running his fingers through his brown hair, ruffling the longer sections before rubbing furiously at his face. "Anyway, sorry Charles. Didn't mean to dump that on ya."

Tony quickly patted his bots in farewell with the promise of donating them if he came home and his lab was destroyed, and went back to his room to replace his soiled clothes and wash his face.

"It's okay, Tony. You know you can talk with me about anything. Why don't you come visit when you get back? How long is it?"

He hummed absently as he redid his tie. "Not long, three days tops. Day there, day for the demonstration, day back. Four if something holds us up, but I don't think anything will."

"All right then. How about two days after you get back, so Thursday? I'm sure the children would love to meet you." Tony made an uncertain noise. "They don't have to know you're a mutant, but it would mean a lot to them. Human or not, you're a public figure and some of the children would be reassured to know that someone well known isn't bothered by what they are. Even more so since most of the mutant community are under the notion you carry your father's beliefs." Tony winces. Yeah, he'd need to find a way to change that, and it was kind of hard when not many mutants if any at all applied for jobs at SI.

"We could spin it to them so they think I'm looking at what they need an upgrade on. Show I'm offering support to them and their education." He suggested, shooting a quick text to Happy to say he was ready to leave in a few minutes.

"That could work. Unless of course you wanted to teach them-"

"Oh, no no no! Bad idea, very bad idea. Do you know how fast I talk? Wait don't answer that, of course you do. But I can't teach! I just-"

"Tony, calm down, it's alright, just breathe." Tony hadn't even realised it had changed, but obliged.

"Sorry." His phone pinged, signifying Happy was here. He sighed. "Thanks Charles. Sorry but I gotta run. I'll visit when I get back, 'kay?"

"Take care of yourself Tony."

"Sure. Seeya' Charles." And JARVIS cut the call.

He never did visit on Thursday.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So, I was going to update yesterday but I got delayed as I had to drive down to Brisbane... Wasn't for anything too special, just a P!ATD concert... ;) (I still feel kinda deaf haha)
> 
> Anyway, so I've got about three more pre-written chapters left before I need to start writting again. So, if I remember, I'll post those, hopefully, in a two to three day time gap at most each and then get writting again. I must warn, it may be slow going after that as I've still got to deal with starting year 12, and from what I'm told, assignments will be distributed by the end of the week and beginning of the next. 
> 
> So this obviously doesn't leave much writing time *scowls and grumbles under breath* but I'll try my best... and what I have posted now was a process of months of on and off writing every few to every other day, as well as a lot of review and editing... :P On that note, if anyone spots any mistake- any at all, I'd be happy for you to notify me about it and I'll go back and do my best to fix it. I mean it, a typo, strange wording- anything.
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope the way I'm going with this story doesn't dissapoint! :)

If someone were to ask him exactly what happened in the three months he'd been kidnapped by the Ten Rings, or the events that followed, he wasn't sure how well he'd be able to.

He remembered the soldiers getting shot and bullets shredding the car like Swiss cheese, he remembered seeing a bomb with his name on it- _literally._ There was flashes of being manhandled in front of a camera. There was the agony of someone cutting his chest open and _things_ being shoved in and pulled out before he passed out from the pain and memories.

He'd woken up with a start, pulling a long tube from his nose. There'd been a weight in his chest attached to a car battery that _hurt oh my god it hurts to breathe- can't breathe can't move it hurts-_

Then there was Ho Yinsen. He'd saved his life, pulling most of the shrapnel out of his chest and keeping the rest from shredding his heart. Yinsen was kind, they'd met before apparently. It took a while but eventually he remembered the man from an event years ago. Yinsen seemed surprised, he'd thought Tony had been drunk at the time (he hadn't been).

If it wasn't for Yinsen, Tony would've either died or killed himself. The waterboarding did more than almost drown him. These terrorists mustn't've been very smart if they thought dunking someone in pools of water for hours _while attached to a live car battery_ was a good idea. He'd been electrocuted too many times to count, and it left his body even weaker for it.

There were other things they did to him. (He thinks they'd whipped him at one point, but he'd passed out too quickly and when in constant pain, it's hard to tell if there was anything new.)

Yinsen helped him with the miniaturized arc reactor and installed it to keep his heart going long enough to either meet the terrorists demands or escape. The latter being what they were aiming for.

They made a crude suit of armour with Tony's plans and made their escape. Yinsen was killed and it broke Tony's heart. The man had been planning to die all along, but it still felt like it was his fault. He wasn't fast enough, he could've done something. He couldn't use his telekinesis because his heart clenched painfully in his chest whenever he tried and started to suffocate him, forcing him to stop.

He'd walked across the boiling hot desert for hours. Burns and still bleeding lacerations making him lightheaded and it difficult to concentrate. Then Rhodey was holding him and he just _cried_ in pure relief, letting himself drown in his best friends' familiar emotions. It was over and he was finally safe again.

He decided enough was enough and shut down Stark Industries weapon manufacturing. Rhodey was not amused. Neither was Obadiah. But it was his company, he owned Stark Industries and was the CEO too. He could damn well do what he pleased. This should have been done a long time ago.

He created the Mark II suit based off the crude version from the cave, except this one would be able do to things. He fixed up a more sterile arc reactor and casing for himself as well, that made it slightly easier to breathe. (He'd considered asking Pepper for help, but he'd need to have his shirt off for that. She really did not need to know what scars he had hiding there that were too old to be played off onto the Ten Rings.) His telekinesis was still out of commission though, and he really couldn't figure out why and it was really starting to scare him.

~~~

Obadiah betrayed him.

He _really_ should have seen that one coming, the guy felt sketchy all the time, but he didn't think something like this would happen. He always tried to block out his empathy, so Tony blamed himself for that. It was his fault for not paying attention.

He'd nearly died (again) when he was paralysed for a few minutes ( _long, so agonizingly long minutes. The shrapnel was clawing its own path through his chest and ohmygodImgoingtodiePepperpleaseno_ ) and Stane had stolen the reactor _(ripped it from his chest, shredded his heart and crushed it with a cold fist-)_ to power his Iron Monger. Thankfully Dummy got him the old one in time, and then he nearly died _again_ when he had Pepper blow up the big arc reactor to kill the bastard.

And that was how the world came to know him as Ironman. A bit of an impulsive decision, but it would have come out eventually anyway, so it was better to get it out right off the bat, rather than face the bad press later on if something happened they didn't like and it got out who he was.

He passed out on his bed sometime later, only to wake up screaming. Well, looks like he wouldn't be getting any shut-eye any time soon. Better work on some upgrades for the suit then. And call Charles, that too.

~~~

He was dying.

The thing that was keeping him alive was also killing him. If Tony had been into that sort of stuff, he would have called it poetic. But he wasn't so he just called it bullshit, flipped his life the bird and drank chlorophyll by the bottle every few hours and looked for a solution.

There wasn't one.

If he was dying, then he needed to get his affairs in order. He made Pepper CEO (he'd thought about doing it anyway, this was just a kick to actually do it.) He made a bunch of tech for the X-men and the students at the mansion. He gave Charles a decent wheelchair in the same delivery. (It could fly if Charles wanted it to, and only he could use that feature. Stairs would no longer be the man's enemy.)

He made a suit for Rhodey to have, one that only he could use and no-one else. He refused to let the military have it- or anyone but him for that matter. JARVIS would make sure it got fixed when he was gone.

He hadn't told anyone he was dying, and he hadn't met Charles face to face since he'd found out. He didn't know what to do.

Then there was that totally not-a-spy Natalie Rushman. (He could hack SHIELD, it was pathetically easy to do, some hacker with a bit of skill in a van could do it. Take that Natashalie Rushmanoff, I know who you are.) And even if he didn't know that from the SHIELD database, she wasn't being subtle about watching him. (This was probably intentional, otherwise whoever wrote down how skilled she was needed their brains checked.)

She attempted to seduce him, but he easily brushed her off. (He really wasn't into the very revealing breast look she was going for.) She probed him for information, left a few bugs that were found and destroyed the moment she left the room. He played his mask at her and hoped it pissed her off enough that'd she'd back off already.

"If this was your last birthday," He asked her randomly as she was fixing his tie before his party. "What would you do?"

"I'd do whatever I want, with whoever I want." Was her reply. It was a poorly disguised come on, with the way she shifted so her breasts were more obvious, but he pretended not to notice. The answer got him thinking though.

Pepper called him fifteen minutes later asking where the hell he was, he replied with a simple, "Not at the party, sorry Pep." and hung up. Another twenty minutes later and he landed at Xavier's School with a thud on the pristine lawn.

It was about four in the afternoon, so classes would be out, but at this point Tony couldn't make himself care too much. The suit folded back into a suitcase- heh, _suit_ case... he really needed sleep.

Adjusting his suit back into place, he grabbed his case and walked up the steps and rang the doorbell. He only had to wait a few moments before the door was opened by a petite young girl with brown hair. She looked up at him in confusion for a second, then recognition dawned on her face and she squeaked, slamming the door closed.

Tony opened and closed his mouth in bemusement. "Okay then." He muttered to himself, scratching his chin. Thankfully not long later, the door opened again with the same girl behind it, though it was being used to hide as much of her as possible this time.

"Hello." He smiled warmly at her, she looked just about ready to slam the door again so he quickly continued. "Are you gonna close the door on my face again? Because, I totally would too if I were you, but I don't even know your name. So, names first, door slamming second, deal?"

She stared at him. (It was kind of creepy. She wasn't even blinking.)

"Right. Hi! I'm Tony Stark, and you are...?" He held out his hand, still smiling. She looked from the hand to his face and back again.

"Kitty. Kitty Pryde." She managed, hesitantly shaking his hand. He grinned.

"Kitty, I like that. Now, feel free to slam the door again, I did say you could." She shook her head at him, still staring.

He was about to speak again when a very familiar voice came from inside, causing Kitty to jump.

"Kitty! Why are you standing at the- Tony!" Ororo suddenly cut herself off, sliding past the girl and enveloping him in a very welcome hug that he returned to the best of his ability with one arm.

"Hey Ororo." He mumbled into the crook of her neck. She pulled back, holding his shoulders and giving him a once over.

"Tony its been too long! I haven't seen you since Afghanistan!" He winced at the reminder.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I've been meaning to visit but so many things have been happening... it kind of got away from me. Sorry."

"Oh, its fine, honey. You're here now. Come on, Charles will want to see you." He followed her inside, giving a small wave and friendly smile to a stunned Kitty Pryde and followed Ororo the Professors office.

Charles looked up from what looked like a stack of homework when the door opened and broke into a smile at the sight of Tony. Ororo smiled and left the two alone to talk, which Tony was thankful for.

"Hey Professor." Tony greeted with a smile, walking over and hugging the man briefly. "Rocking your new wheels I see, I knew you'd like 'em." He grinned.

"Tony, its been too long since we last saw each other. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Tony's smile faltered as he dropped into the chair behind him.

"Can't I just come and visit my favourite professor?"

Charles frowned, rolling around the desk so he was closer to Tony. "Tony, what's wrong? Is everything alright?"

"Oh fine, everything's fine. Peachy." His voice lacked any emotion and without looking at the other man's thoughts, Charles could tell something was wrong.

"Tony..."

"I'm fine. Perfectly, perfectly fine." The voice was still devoid of any emotion, and that only happened when he was completely working at suppressing his empathy. Charles gave him a look and Tony's mask cracked. "Can't you just read my mind or something?" He huffed irritably, rubbing his forehead.

"I would prefer to hear it from you." He grinned wryly. "And we both know how difficult it is to see what you're thinking, Tony."

Tony's lips twitched but he didn't smile. His mask broke and he just looked so lost and alone. He hung his head in his hands, taking a shuddering breath.

"I just don't know what to do, Charles." He said, voice wavering in its emotionless state.

"Do for what?" The older man probed gently.

"Everything, Charles! I just-" His voice broke and hitched up several octaves before he cleared his throat. "I don't know what to do."

"Tell me."

Instead of speaking, Tony began undoing the first few buttons of his shirt, revealing his scars both old and new, as well as the arc reactor. While Charles had never seen the reactor in Tony's chest even though he knew it was there, that wasn't what his eyes focused on. There were jagged looking veins of purple raised up in the area around the reactor.

"I'm dying."

The statement caught Charles off guard. His eyes flicked back up to Tony's brown ones, which were blank once again. The buttons were redone quickly and arms crossed protectively over the glowing reactor.

"I've got two months, maybe three, maybe less at this rate. Palladium poising is a bitch. The only thing that can keep me alive, but it's killing me. There's no substitute for the power core, but I can't have it removed with the shrapnel, the chance of success is less than seventeen percent right now. The installation of the magnet removed my sternum, damaged my ribs and muscles around my heart."

Charles didn't know what to say to that. What could anyone say to that?

"Who else knows?"

"Just you, I don't want anyone to know, but I had to tell someone. I've been preparing, making sure everything I have goes to the right place when I- when I-" He swallowed. "When I'm gone. Pepper's got the company, Rhodey's got the suit... and here I am, my last birthday is spent telling you that I'll be dead in two months." He gave a rueful laugh. "Sounds about right. Least I lived to forty, more than I expected."

"Tony, I'm so sorry." There were tears gathering in the man's eyes as he reached forward to rest a hand on Tony's knee. "Are you sure there's nothing that can be done?"

"There's no known element that can replace the palladium core. I know, I've looked and looked again and then looked another three times for kicks." His breathing hitched, the walls he'd put up finally crumbling. "Charles, I- I... I don't want to die..." He sobbed, burying his face in his hands. There was the unspoken _"Not anymore."_ on the end of that, but Charles didn't comment.

Charles maneuvered himself so he could gently position Tony to be leaning against him. He gently ran his hand up and down the genius' back and waited out the tears.

They sat in silence for a long time before Tony spoke up, pulling back, face composed and not looking like he'd just been crying. "Could I... I'd like to take you up on your teaching offer. Just one lesson, if... if its alright..."

"That's fine Tony. How about you stay the night and we'll have the day tomorrow for you? I'm sure news of your arrival has already reached everyone in the school." Charles smiled, patting him on the knee.

Tony nodded his thanks, standing to leave. "My room still there?" He gave a small smile.

"It is. I've kept it free in case you ever wanted to stay for a while."

Tony nodded distractedly. "Thanks Professor, I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night Tony." He would have said 'Happy Birthday' as well, but Charles knew it was anything but, so he kept silent. Tony seemed grateful.

Tony slept a little that night. Thankfully no nightmares plagued him and he could rest for the first time in a long while, even if only for a few short hours.

He had fun the next day. All classes were cancelled and Tony had the day with all the kids who were interested. He taught them a few basic things about engineering and the science involved. He demonstrated with the suit and answered questions with easy patience, explaining things simply but still giving the right information. He surprised himself with how good a teacher he seemed to be and mourned that he'd never be able to do this again because he'd be dead.

There was one boy he kept seeing out of the corner of his eye who was watching but not participating. Tony couldn't make out any of his features other than he looked male, so when they called for a short break he made his way over to the kids hiding spot.

"So, how come you don't want to join in?" He said conversationally, leaning against the wall and facing away from the boy. If the kid wanted to hide, Tony would let him.

Tony felt a small spark of surprise from the boy. "I do vant to..." His voice was accented with a German lit, he noticed and nervousness bubbled around him as he spoke.

"Then why don't you?"

"Because..."

"Because of your mutation?" Silence. "Because I'm human? Both?"

A moment's hesitation. "Ja." Tony bit back a sigh.

"Alright, well, what's your name then?"

"Kurt Wagner, but I was called the amazing Nightcrawler..."

"Nightcrawler? Interesting name, Kurt, I like it. Very mysterious." He shifted to look at the corner the boy was hiding behind. "You know, it would be nice to meet the amazing Nightcrawler face to face you know."

"Ich glaube nicht..." Kurt began. Tony paused, mentally translating from the bit of German he knew.

"Nonsense, Kurt. I promise I won't bite."

For a moment Tony thought the kid wasn't going to come out, but when he did the first thing he noticed was blue. A nice dark shade of blue skin with yellow eyes, short black hair, and was that a devil's tail? Huh.

"Nice! No wonder they called you Nightcrawler. What's your mutation?"

"I can teleport." Kurt offered hesitantly. There was a poof of black smoke and a _bamf_ sounded next to him, and when Tony turned Kurt was standing there looking nervous.

"That's really cool. I wish I could teleport, it would make getting away from Peppers board meetings so much easier." He grinned, unable to stop the image of what their faces would look like if he did that popped into his mind.

"You do not... does it not bother you?" Tony blinked in surprise, looking back at Kurt.

"Bother me?" Tony said incredulously. He lent down on one knee to be at eye level with Kurt, who was crouching. "Kurt, there's nothing wrong with you, you know that right? Sure, you look a little different, but it's no different from saying I look a little different to the Professor. Every person you meet looks different, you know why?" Kurt frowned and slowly shook his head. "Because nobody is the same. The people who say mutants aren't human are stupid because they obviously don't know how humans work."

"Vhat do you mean?"

"Every human is born with their own set of DNA. There are differences that make us who we are and dictate what we look like, and similarities that link us to the same species. Being a mutant is no different from having blue eyes, which is a mutation. That's just a more common mutation in the genetics, it's part of humanity. Same goes for the X gene. Just because that mutation causes superpowers and not immunity to a plague, doesn't make it any different from other mutations that 'normal humans' have. When you think about it, all humans are mutants simply because we evolve over time, and to evolve mutations have to occur."

Kurt was looking at him with wide eyes, but a small smile crept over his face and he nodded. Tony grinned, patting Kurt on the shoulder affectionately.

All in all, he made quite a few new friends that day. He was just sad he wasn't going to be around as they grew up.

~~~

It was getting really bad; the purple veins had reached his neck after Vanko. He was starting to sleep more from sheer exhaustion and there were minute tremors in his hands that he was finding increasingly difficult to suppress. If he'd had two or three months before, he'd be lucky to have a month now.

Pepper was mad at him and he wasn't exactly sure why. He'd skipped out on his party, sure. He'd gone to the race to take over for the driver that didn't want to race, but that wasn't exactly cause for such hostility. It's not like he'd wanted to get attacked by Mr Kinky-Whips.

Currently, he was eating donuts inside a giant donut sign. _Thing twenty-four off his bucket list, donutception, check. Next up, fill the ventilation system with glitter in the accounting department of SI. He'd have to get JARVIS to help him with that one._

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to please exit the donut." Came a deep voice from below, causing Tony to pause mid bite of his glaze donut. He glanced downwards over his sunglasses at the _honest to god_ **pirate** looking up at him. He wasn't sure whether or not he should laugh. He'd always wanted to meet a pirate. _Seventy-four, check._

He walked inside the mysteriously empty donut shop with the dark-skinned man (pirate) and sat at a booth, still in his suit sans helmet. He was talking about something or another that Tony wasn't really paying much attention to when a familiar presence began to approach from behind.

Nick Fury (the pirate) glanced at the newcomer and was about to say something when Tony smoothly cut him off.

"Ah, Miss Natashalie Rushmanoff, I was wondering when I'd meet your boss." He grinned smugly at the surprise that burst from the red head behind him and the Director who had been starting to feel a bit too smug to his liking before he'd caught the spy out.

Nick made a minute hand gesture and before Tony could figure out why, something sharp was plunged into his neck. He jumped back with a gasp, eyes widening in panic.

_It's fine, it's fine. It's not Howard, he's dead. You're safe. Mostly. Dying but safe and ohmygodpleasenodon't-_

"Mr Stark?" Natasha's voice broke into his rapid thoughts and he managed to slow his breathing enough for his eyes to focus. They were both looking at him, faces blank but confusion and mild concern were surrounding them.

He took a deep breath, clearing his throat. "What the _hell_ was that? A little warning next time! I don't _do_ needles." He growled, glaring viciously at the two spies.

"That was to take the edge off." Fury explained, not at all concerned.

"Well, it didn't."

The next thing he knew, he was once again in Pepper's office. He was seriously thinking about telling her he was dying, but 'Natalie' walked in and the thought was discarded. He felt a bit betrayed, mostly because he didn't understand why Pepper was so mad at him. So, in the end he just (reluctantly) took Howard's things and left.

~~~

Bastard.

~~~

After a _small_ panic attack at hearing Howard's voice and seeing his face, Tony figured out how to save himself from death. Turns out the Stark Expo model had the atomic structure of a new element hidden in it. It looked similar to vibranium, but not.

So, he built a particle accelerator in his workshop slash basement. His Malibu home was also a lot airier than it was a few days ago. There were also more pitfalls in the flooring.

He wasn't sure what to feel or think as he put the new element in his newly designed arc reactor, and following the tradition of the terrible and totally original naming of new elements, he dubbed it Starkanium. He was about to have JARVIS run some tests, just to triple check, when he found out something bad was happening at the expo.

Ignoring JARVIS' concerned shouting, Tony carefully disconnected the old reactor and replaced it with the new one, clicking it into place. The lights flickered and _oh thank god,_ his telekinesis began to make some of his tools in his workshop float a few feet in the air and for the first time since Afghanistan he could _breathe._ He could hear his bots clicking excitedly behind him, watching as Dum-E tried to grab his favourite wrench from the air, just out of his reach.

Air came easier, with less pain and the dizziness and nausea caused by the palladium almost vanished instantly. He stumbled backwards to use the bench for support, his legs suddenly feeling weak with the rush of energy to his long-deprived system. It wasn't perfect, simply because of the fact the arc was in his chest, it limited his lung capacity and would always cause pain and or discomfort no matter what, but it was so much _better_ than it had been.

The fight at the expo was a close call. The civilians were evacuated quickly and after a short (if just slightly more deadly) game of tag, the Hammer droids were taken down and JARVIS managed to regain control over Rhodey's suit despite the issues with the tech installed on it. Damn Rhodey for defiling his suit with Hammer tech.

Vanko was a bit of an almost disaster, but together Tony and Rhodey dealt with him by firing a strong repulsor blast at each other. Basically, a really bright light and very destructive shock wave. Thankfully Pepper had had the good sense to _get the hell_ out of dodge once the fighting started.

She found out he'd apparently been dying, and had most certainly not been pleased he hadn't told her. Tony had replied to this statement every time it was brought up, repeatedly with the same answer or variation, that every time he tried to tell her either something would come up or she'd been so hostile to him that he couldn't work up the nerve to tell her.

So, they broke it off before it could really start. They were still friends, but their tenuous romantic relationship obviously wasn't going to work. Pepper took a business trip to Japan and Tony locked himself inside his lab with only his bots and JARVIS for company, the hum of their personalities comforting him whenever he needed it.

Once he felt more like himself, he called Xavier to tell him the good news. Yes, he was fine. No, he wasn't dying anymore. No, he didn't find a cure, Howard did. Yes, he was fine with that. Sort of. Not really.

All in all, Tony thought that maybe his life would finally start to settle back down to what he was used to.


	5. Chapter 5

It didn't, not really. 

He'd finished the renovation plans for the Tower when Agent Coulson came into the elevator. He let them pretend they'd hacked JARVIS, because JARVIS was smarter than that. He wouldn't let some sneaky organization get into his files unless he wanted them to.

So, he spent the next few hours re-reading the files on the candidate's slash recruits for the Avengers Initiative. Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Steve Rogers- _wait_. Steve Rogers? As in-. No, don't think about its fine, Howard was wrong. The Captain (who really wasn't a captain at all, he never passed the 'Private' rank) was- _is_ a good man. It's fine. Hmm... Bruce Banner- _Oooohh!_ Science buddy! Fellow nerd! Also, Hulk, but _science bro!_

Tony will forever deny that he squealed like a teenage girl getting asked out by her crush when he found out about Banner joining them. JARVIS, however, will not. Traitor.

~~~

Blasting his way to Germany after JARVIS telling him that's where Loki, this month's villain of choice, was. Apparently, he stole someone's eyeball and was making a big show of 'Kneel before my feet.'

Hacking into the Quinjet's PA system to cause a distraction (and because it was funny) he fired his repulsor beams and knocked the supposed God of Mischief back onto the steps a few meters away. A blast like that would probably have killed any normal human, but the god only seemed a bit winded.

The newly dubbed 'Reindeer Games' was quick to surrender when faced with many of the suit's weapons pointed at his face, his armor magicking away in a green-gold light. Tony tried his best not to look at the 'Captain', unwilling to trigger any memories from his childhood.

They cuffed and led Loki back onto the quinjet and were soon making their way back to the Helicarrier. Tony ignored the Captains attempts to talk to him for now and instead studied their prisoner intently. He tuned out the world around him and zeroed in on Loki, focusing on reading his emotions and nothing else. The god stared back unflinchingly with sickly blue iris', looking slightly bemused at the apparent staring contest Tony had inadvertently started.

It took a lot of concentration, but he managed to get a read on the Trickster across from him and was confused by what he felt. It was strange. It was possible to feel a mixture of emotions at one time, because that's just how emotions worked, but this was different. Each emotion was fighting for dominance constantly. A battle between indifference and fear. Anger and hatred. Amusement and pain. They were mixing and strangling each other, constantly at war. Most people would account this to an alien brain, but not Tony, who knew how emotions worked intimately. Something was wrong with Loki, it was like he was fighting himself. Or someone else.

He was pulled abruptly from his thoughts when Steve shoved his armored shoulder to get his attention. Tony flinched and turned to look at the blond, who was sporting an irritated expression.

"Have you been paying attention at all, Stark?" He huffed hauntingly. Tony had to force himself not to react to the tone. It had been many years, he was past this.

"No, I haven't. I was a bit busy." He responded curtly, gaze already drifting back to the dark-haired god.

"Busy? You call staring off into space _busy_?" Steve exclaimed, incredulous.

"Yes." He replied simply, lazily inclining his head towards Captain-stick-up-his-ass. "There's this thing people do called thinking. I'm not sure if you would have heard of it, doing time as a Capsicle." He remarked dryly.

Steve's face went red, anger and irritation steadily growing. Tony suppressed a wince and carefully blocked him out while still allowing his senses to roam. A few minutes later thunder rumbled and Loki began to look visibly uneasy.

"What, scared of a little lightning?" Rogers taunted. Loki barely spared him a glance.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Was his slightly stiff reply. Fear was beginning to overpower its foe, but was being attacked in an attempt to viciously shove it down by other emotions. Tony noticed a trend in which emotions were being suppressed by others, and which seemed to be doing the suppressing.

There was a loud thud on the roof above them, and Tony gasped as a wave anger and overbearing pride ricocheted around him before violently shoving down his walls completely, quickly catching his breath. The hanger door was ripped open and a large and brutish looking blond with a bright red cape stomped forward and forcefully grabbed Loki by the neck. Tony had just enough time to see those sickly blues flicker and widen in fear before they were gone.

Tony sighed. "Now there's that guy." He flipped his faceplate down and stepped towards the hatch when a voice made him pause.

"Stark! We need a plan of attack." Rogers called, apparently thinking he was in charge. He totally wasn't.

"I have a plan." He replied, voice distorted and deepened through the suit's speakers. "Attack."

The ensuing firefight was not totally unexpected. He threw a few jabs and jokes in here and there, just to rile the 'God of Thunder' up a bit. He kept his walls firmly down, because he really didn't want his brain to be pummelled to mush by Thor's screeching and overpowering emotions. It made him feel like he was five at one of Howard's parties again.

During the short fight, he used his telekinesis as much as he dared. Mostly just adding a bit more force to his blows or to help deflect ones thrown at him. Unfortunately, that particular ability was useless when one gets struck by _lightning_. He was so, unbelievably, relieved that after Vanko he'd upped the protection of the suit against electricity-based attacks, and EMP blasts as well. He'd tested it with one of his most powerful and the suit barely flickered, while the reactor was unaffected. The element seemed to emit a small bubble of energy that prevented interference from any other energies, which was helpful when it was the only thing keeping him alive.

Back to the present, he was sure he blacked out for a second there, to hear JARVIS informing him of a four hundred percentage power increase, which was so cool, but needed to be expelled lest it damages the suit's circuit boards from the heat that much electricity generated.

Then Spangles jumped in and managed to level the forest with Thor. Brilliant. He'd kind of been trying to _avoid_ that as much as possible.

Somehow, they _all_ ended up _back inside_ the quinjet, which was definitely not designed for someone of Thor's size. He'd have to fix that. Wait, no. Focus. Bad Tony.

Against all odds, despite the tension, they managed to get back to the Helicarrier in once piece. Loki was taken somewhere, probably for interrogation, while Natasha, Rogers, and Thor went to the bridge for a briefing. Tony had to detour with Agent to put his suit somewhere secure before making his own way there.

He walked confidently into the room, giving Thor a pat on the arm as he passed, easily inserting himself into the conversation and exchanging science with a timid looking man who had curly dark brown hair and a purple button down. Spinning around the area as he did so, subtly placing a device on the underside of the table by some computers in one smooth movement.

Tony grinned and walked right up to the man once they finished their banter, lowering his walls as he did so, glad when nothing was immediately overpowering.

"Doctor Banner." He greeted with barely contained excitement, clasping the man's hand in both of his own in a vague impression of a handshake, still grinning from ear to ear. "Huge fan of your work, by the way. Your study on anti-election collisions is unparalleled. And I'm also a fan of how you lose control and turn into a giant green rage monster." He babbled at his usual high speeds.

Bruce just smiled back at him in bemusement. "Uhh, thanks." Amusement, suspicion, confusion and a bit of suppressed happiness floated calmly around him in soft movements. Conversation picked up again in the room, and Tony realised if he paid enough attention he could feel the Hulks curiosity, just behind Bruce's own emotions, like he was just in the other room. Tony had no doubt that if the Hulk was in control, Bruce would be in Hulks place. Satisfied with his findings, he tuned back into the conversation.

"-army called the Chitauri. He means to lead them against your people and they, in turn, will win him the Tesseract." Tony tuned out again for a moment to recall everything he'd read about the Cube, which was not much. He resolved to ask Thor about it later if he could.

"-bag full of cats, you can smell crazy on him." Actually, there was no crazy in him from what Tony had seen. Well, maybe a bit. But his emotions were trying to snuff each other out, so he gave the guy a little credit.

"Take care how you speak, he may be beyond reason but he is still my brother."

"He killed eighty people in three days."

Thor grimaced. "He's adopted?"

"Actually," Tony piped up, taking a gamble. "I think there's something else at play. Tell me, Thor, what colour are you brothers eyes?"

Thor frowned. "Man of Iron, how is this information of importance?"

"Just answer the question, please."

"Green, as they have always been. Like emerald." The blond answered, confusion still making itself known despite it not showing any longer in his tone or expression.

"Right, okay. Now Natasha, what colour are Barton's eyes normally?"

"Grey-blue." She replied cautiously, but he could see her attempting to figure out where he was going with this line of questioning.

Tony clapped his hands together. "Right. _So_. Grey-blue eyes and emerald. As we know, Barton's eyes turned Tesseract blue when Loki... recruited him, shall we say. Now." He pulled out his phone in one swift motion and quickly tapped away on it, fingers flying across the screen with ease. Finding what he needed, he placed the device down on the table and activated the hologram, lifting a picture of Loki's face. There was a soft 'oh' from someone who he thinks is Bruce, but the shock and surprise from the other people in the room caught him off guard for a second, so he can't be sure. He cleared his throat.

"Now, Loki, who we've just been told has green eyes, seems to be very lacking in that feature, wouldn't you agree?"

"So, he's being controlled?" Rogers was the first to break the silence. Tony nodded. Paused. Shrugged.

"Yes? No? I mean, looks that way. Like, the shade matches the Cube and his behaviour isn't always consistent with his actions from what I can tell. But, it's only the iris'. Agent Barton's eyes glazed over completely. Maybe it's not the same kind of control?"

Thor's hope and joy made him blink hard, subtly bracing himself against the table as he grabbed his phone, pulling his walls down a bit more to ward off the strong emotion lest it give him a headache.

They spoke a bit more and considered his theory, before Tony and Bruce were sent off to the labs they'd be working at, bantering with each other and throwing around science all the way there, much to the amusement and fond annoyance of Agent while he escorted them. Tony's grin only grew at that. Agent was cool.

They finished the tracking algorithm in record time and had fallen into companionable silence. Letting JARVIS continue to sift through more of SHIELD's files for anything new, knowing he would ping Tony's mild technopathy if he found anything, the brunet made his way around to the shorter man- finally he was taller than someone! - and picked up a pointy thing he couldn't be bothered to remember the name of.

"You should come by Stark Tower some time, Brucie. Top ten floors, all R&D, you'd love it, it's candy land."

"Thanks, but last time I was in New York I kind of broke... Harlem."

"Well," He began, meandering closer to the doctor. "I promise a stress-free environment. No tension, no surprises." He cuts himself off and suddenly pokes the physicist in the side with his pointy thing. Bruce jumped in surprise with a small yelp, not of pain, but simply because he hadn't expected it. The man turned his wide-eyed stare to the genius, who was merely smiling at him with a hint of manic glee in his eyes.

"You really have got a lid on that, don't you? What do you use? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?" He grinned, pulling a blueberry packed from his pocket and tipping a few in his mouth, completely unfazed by the incredulous stare that clearly said 'Are you insane and do you have a death wish?' directed at him. The man wasn't upset, just confused with a bit of amusement underlying it. Hulk was basically grinning, from the way he was projecting at Tony.

Before Tony could say anything else, Captain Angry-face stormed into the lab. "Hey! Is everything a joke to you?" He shouts, glaring at Tony.

"Funny things are." He replies flippantly, stepping away from the table holding the sceptre. He hears Bruce snort in amusement behind him, but it seems the Captain either didn't hear or ignored it.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." He growls, before adding hastily. "No offense, doctor." Though it wasn't sincere.

Bruce's good mood seemed to vanish instantly and Tony inwardly cursed, outwardly glaring at Rogers. He'd worked so hard to make Bruce feel comfortable around him and Rogers just had to go and ruin that. Tony's brown eyes narrowed at the super solider, trying his best not to project his own emotions onto the man in his anger, unwillingly to find out what might happen.

"No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Bruce mumbles quietly, nervously wringing his hands again. He'd only stopped doing that when Tony proved that the Hulk didn't bother him (mostly by annoying him with terrible jokes and giving continuous side hugs until he relaxed when it became too funny for him to stop himself) and the man had relaxed a lot once he did, his nervous habits forgotten, his quiet nature gaining a bit more wit and snark. Tony loved it, Bruce was just _so cool_. Tony cursed Rogers again for screwing up his hard work.

"Come on Rogers, that was uncalled for. Have a little faith in the guy? From what I've seen, so long as no one is trying to turn him into Swiss cheese Jolly Green doesn't seem all that bothered." As he turns back to his screen, he sees Bruce's surprised look and feels how grateful the man is. It makes him sad to think something as small as giving him the benefit of the doubt would get such a reaction. Hulk, who had been figuratively baring his teeth at Rogers drew back and seemed to be trying to reassure Bruce of this fact. Honestly, the Hulk was like an overprotective toddler-puppy when it came to Bruce or those he liked. It was quite amusing to witness. And frankly, adorable.

Spangles pursed his lips and huffed through his nose, clearly not happy with this turn of events. "You need to focus on the problem, Stark." He said instead. A poor diversion of the topic, but Tony rolled his eyes and went with it.

"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables. We finished the tracking algorithm ages ago, but I need more data if this is going to work."

The blond looked scandalized, as if such a thing could not be true. "You think Fury's hiding something?"

Tony scoffed. "He's a spy, Cap. He's _the_ spy. His secrets have secrets with little secret brothers and secret sisters that have secret affairs with the secret partner's secret neighbour." Mentally, Tony whistled at his own rambling. Never in his life did he think that many 'secrets' would be said in a single sentence. Huh. He glanced back at Bruce. "It's bugging you too, isn't it?"

Bruce's cheeks darkened slightly at the shift of attention, and he tried to brush off the question and avoid answering. But Steve pushed and prompted him to speak. Banner sighed, pulling off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

"'A warm light for all mankind', Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it."

Bruce jabs a thumb in the billionaires' direction. "Well, I think that was meant for you."

"The Stark Tower? That big ugly-" Tony gives him an unimpressed look and Steve swallows, but continues. "...building in New York?"

"It's powered by an Arc Reactor, right? Self- sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?" He glances at Tony for confirmation.

Tony smiles, unable to help the hint of pride that makes it into his voice and expression. "That's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now."

Banner nods in acknowledgment. "So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's more secure files."

The Captain blinks in surprise. "I'm sorry, did you just say...?"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide."

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?"

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not possible."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up, controlled or not. He means to start a war, and if don't you stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, you should follow them." He's taken on a tone of superiority, and that really grates at Tony's nerves. His rank is as low as it can be as a soldier and he thinks he can boss Tony Stark of all people around?

"Following's not really my style. I don't like being sheeple, they bother me." Spangles doesn't seem to understand the term and ignores it.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" He snipes, with a mocking smile.

"Of the people in this room, which one is; A. wearing a spangly outfit, and B. not of use? Because I don't do spangles, and I'm sure Jolly Green wouldn't approve if you tried to shove something like that on him." He replies. Then he pauses as an image makes itself know in his brain and he winces. "I really don't want to see Green and Mean in pink frills. Thanks brain." He shudders dramatically. He sees Bruce incline his head in agreement with an amused smile, with a small shake of his head in what is possibly disbelief before adding in his own two cents, serious once again.

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?"

Rogers bristles. "Just find the cube." He says shortly. But as he walks away, Tony catches something he wished he hadn't as Steve muttered irritably to himself. "Howard would roll in his grave to see his son act like this..."

Tony freezes in place. Bruce is looking at him in concern, obviously having heard as well, but the brunet doesn't notice. It was a simple thing, people had mentioned Howard around him before but this... Howard had experimented on him for eight months because of his obsession with Captain America. To see him act so hostile towards himself and basically _agree_ with Howard that everything he does is worthless...

He slumps backwards against the cool metal bench behind him, knocking a few things over and his breath catches in his throat. The room seems to get darker and he feels himself trembling. _No_. He can't be back there, it's been years! But the walls were closing in and he could feel the pressure of the restraints on his wrists and see the scalpel coming down to slice him open again and it wasn't just Howard there, Rogers was there too, agreeing with whatever Howard was saying. The sharp metal glinted in the light and-

Suddenly there was a weight on his shoulders that made him instinctively tense when he didn't immediately recognize it as Ororo or Charles, but the room brightened. His eyes wouldn't focus yet but he could make out someone kneeling in front of him. When had he ended up on the floor? He blinks a few times and tried to get his eyes to track the persons' small movements. They were speaking and Tony eventually recognized the voice as Bruce's. The moment he realised who it was, he felt the worry both Bruce and Hulk were directly towards him, and he felt the knot in his chest loosen slightly.

He blinked again and this time his eyes focused on the other man's face. He clumsily lifted a shaking hand and weakly clutched the sleeve of Bruce's shirt, trying to match Bruce's breathing as he was being instructed to. It took a few tries but he managed to get his breathing under control and calm his rabbiting heart. His hands still trembled, but there wasn't much he could do about that.

"You with me, Tony?" A voice asked, causing him to start, opening his eyes. He hadn't noticed he'd closed them. Bruce was gazing intently at him, concern lining his features and highlighted by his and Hulks emotions. Tony worked his throat, swallowing, but gave up after a second and just nodded, not taking his brown eyes from Bruce's own.

There was a spark of relief as the man sighed, gently squeezing his shoulder. Tony smiled wanly at him.

"Do you..." Banner started, clearly not knowing how ask his question. Tony hummed encouragingly. "Does this happen often? Do you know what triggers it?" He asked, then winced, pulling a hand from Tony's shoulder to awkwardly scratch the back of his head.

"Not for a long time. Happened a lot when I was younger-" His eyes widened, realizing what he'd just said. Bruce gives him a look, startled. Tony cleared his throat, shifting quickly to stand. Dammit, he shouldn't have said that. He paces jerkily back and forth for a bit while Bruce slowly rises and leans against the table, content to wait him out.

Tony looks over at him and gives him an assessing look, before his gaze darts about the room. He stumbles over to a screen and types something to JARVIS. The windows dim, as sometimes the room would need to be darker for light sensitive projects so the feature had been installed, and the recording devices in the room are looped from when they were working earlier with audio turned off, and his little breakdown deleted.

"Howard-" He clenches his eyes shut, fingers tapping restlessly against his reactor. "Was not, the best person. He, uh... you know and he drank a lot. Liked to sleep around, even when he was with my mom and had me. Sometimes he... well more than sometimes. Liked to-" He stopped speaking, unable to make himself continue while he took deep breaths through his nose. 

He was trusting Bruce with this, he wasn't sure why, and he hoped it didn't backfire on him horribly. He liked Bruce. Like, he _really_  liked Bruce. Bruce seemed like he'd be a good bro. Maybe, with time, he could almost be on Rhodey's level of awesome bro-ness. Damn. He really needed to sleep. Or coffee. Coffee would work too.

Thankfully Bruce caught his meaning and finished his sentence for him.

"Hurt you?" He asked gently, knowingly simplifying the issue for the billionaires' comfort, and possibly even his own to some degree. Tony knew the man had experience with abuse. Brian Banner had been known for overindulging and hitting his young son and later killing his wife when she tried to leave for their own safety.

Tony nodded once jerkily. "Among other things. He was obsessed, you know? Everyone seems to think him searching for Cap all those years was something to praise him for. Heroric, even. A sign of true loyalty maybe. But... It drove my mom further into drugs and he went... he went _insane_. I- I don't think people seem to realise that kind of fixation on, for all intents and purposes, a dead guy wasn't-. It- it wasn't healthy, like, _at all_. He- I was-" He broke off with a whimper, fingers tracing the line of the last scar Howard had given him. Before he'd been rescued. Bruce frowned at the movement, bringing Tony's attention to it and he abruptly aborted the motion.

"You don't have to tell me, Tony. Especially not here."

Tony nodded, straightening and typing something to JARVIS again, the room returning to normal. "Probably best, wouldn't want to get the Other Guy worked up over the past, now would we?" He said flippantly, forcing his tone to stay light, even as he slammed down his mental walls so he didn't have to feel. Bruce looked at him for a moment longer, obviously making a mental note to address this with his new... friend at a later time.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, there's just one more prewritten chapter left. I can't promise these fast updates after that. Sorry!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next chapter?

Things pretty much went to shit after that. They worked for maybe another hour before Fury came striding into the lab.

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" He demands. He's pissed, Tony doesn't have to use his empathy to know that. And the billionaire knows exactly what the Director is talking about, so he sees no reason to try and evade the question.

"You know, I was kind of wondering the same thing about you." He responds dryly, continuing to speed read the files JARVIS had flagged as most important.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We're doing that," Bruce pipes up, flicking his eyes towards the engineer briefly before he looks back at Fury. "The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

"Then we'll have the Cube back, no problem." He pauses, expression darkening. "And what is phase two?"

Fury opens his mouth to answer when Rogers stomps his way into the room, slamming down some kind of blaster on the workbench, completely ignoring the things he just knocked off it.

"Phase two is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." He states, leveling a glare at Fury before turning it onto the billionaire. "Sorry," He says crisply, a condescending smile stretching his mouth. "Computer was moving a little slow for me."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're..."

"I'm sorry Nick, what were you lying?" Tony asked, turning the screen to face the two newest occupants of the room.

"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve accuses. It's also in that moment the lab becomes crowded as both Thor and Natasha enter.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor Banner?" It's not really a question, even if her tone of voice suggests so and Bruce knows it from the look he gives her in response.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." He replies evenly, cleaning his glasses with the hem of his shirt absently before replacing them on his face.

"Loki is manipulating you." Tony gave her an incredulous look. How the hell was Loki manipulating Bruce? Bruce's emotions were all his own, just edging towards irritation more than anything, but given the situation, it was kind of expected.

"And you've all being trying to do what, exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

He shakes his head. "No, I didn't. I came because you screwed up and needed the help only I could give. As you told me Ms Romanova, if there was anyone better, that's where you'd be." He smiled, but it was forced and fake, spreading his arms open a bit in a mocking fashion. "And now here we are. I'm not going to leave just because you all get a little twitchy. What I want to know is what SHIELD is doing making these sorts of weapons."

Fury points towards Thor without hesitation. "Because of him."

Thor blinks in surprise, pointing to himself. "Me?"

"Yes. Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor defends, seeming offended.

"Come on Nick, there was a bit of property damage and a few non-life-altering injuries, but nobody died." Tony points out, gaining the attention of the room for a moment as he speaks, unabashedly admitting to more hacking of their files. Fury sent him a look that most men would wet themselves under, but the genius just met his gaze.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" He says instead of reply to Tony, getting back to the original topic. "And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled."

"Like you did with the cube?" Rogers puts in, pulling himself up into a more intimidating stance that does nothing.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it! It is a signal to all the Nine and further that Midgard is ready for a higher form of war." Thor booms, crossing his arms and spreading his stance.

"A higher form?" Steve asks with a frown.

"You can't control seven billion people, Fury. Even you must understand that." Tony pipes up, giving the one-eyed man an 'are you really that dumb?' look.

"Shut it, Stark! They forced our hand, we had to come up with something-"

"Nuclear deterrent. 'Cause that always calms everything right down, doesn't it?"

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

"I'm sure if Stark still made weapons he'd be neck deep in-"

"Woah! Wait, wait, wait!" Tony interrupts, genuinely confused by the shift of topic. "Hold on a sec, how is this now about me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Spangles mocks, taking a step forwards towards the brunet. Around them more arguments start to break out, overlapping each other and their hostile emotions clashing and rising. It starts to pound at Tony's brain.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor interrupted, frowning at them all, his voice loud enough to be heard over the rising commotion.

Tony scoffed, thinking back to his pseudo family back in Westchester. "Some are."

"I swear to God Stark, one more-" The Captain growls. Tony throws his hands up.

"Threatening! I feel threatened!"

The arguing continues and Tony's starting to get a headache, like on the border of headache-to-migraine territory, but he doesn't block the emotions out. Then he notices something but he's jolted out of his thoughts when Fury speaks again, to Bruce this time.

"-eed to step away."

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" He courts death by clapping a hand on Rogers' shoulder, which is promptly slapped off with just enough force to bruise.

"You know damn well why! Back off!"

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."

"Big man in a suit of armour." The Captain snarls. "Take that off and what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." He responds without missing a beat, mentally adding _mutant_ and _friend_ _to a bunch of poor kids that got abandoned because of the way they were born while you're praised because you got yours from a bottle._  "You?" _What about you? Take away the serum and what are you?_

He catches a slightly impressed look from Romonov from the corner of his eye even as the blond responds, growling slightly, his emotional presence pressing forcefully against Tony's mind. There is so much _hate_ there Tony almost chokes, physically forcing himself to separate this feeling from Howard in every way he can.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. Yeah, I've seen the footage-"

"And I know people who are nothing like you and worth more than everyone on this damned flying shipwreck combined-" But it's as if he hadn't spoken at all.

"-the only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

Internally Tony snarls. _You know nothing of what I've been through!_ "I think I would just cut the wire." He forces himself to say instead, keeping a bland expression plastered neatly onto his face.

"Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle! You may think you're a hero, but you're not. None of us are because I _know_ real heroes, and none of us are them." He snarls back. All those kids back the Institute were the real heroes and no one could convince him otherwise. And Bruce, too. Bruce was a hero in his own right for the things he'd gone through.

Steve puffs out his chest hauntingly, practically trembling with suppressed rage at the insult to his hero status. "Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds."

"You people are so petty, and tiny." Thor laughs somewhere on the other side of the lab.

And that's when Tony remembers what he noticed earlier. Something wasn't right. Tony tuned out for a moment to try and pinpoint the feeling. _There_. It was like a thin mist. If it weren't for his mutant ability there was no way he would have noticed it, and even then, he barely did. He opened his power completely and he could feel it more clearly now, after sorting through the initial onslaught from everyone on the ship. It was aggressive, messing with everyone in the room and- _oh._

"Everybody _SHUT UP."_ He shouted suddenly above the arguing. The room fell into abrupt silence, Bruce and Steve flinched but he payed them no mind, then every set of eyes were turned on him, glaring daggers.

"Stark, you need to-" Rogers began angrily, but Tony refused to let him continue.

"No. _You_ need to listen to me." His tone brooked no argument, and it surprised the super soldier enough that he stopped speaking. "The sceptre is messing with all our heads _right now_ and all of you are too busy comparing dick sizes to even _notice_!" He growls, making half the room blink in surprise at the pure venom in his voice. He didn't think they'd expected Tony Stark of all people to be capable of a tone so menacing with the attitude he normally presents.

"Now that I've got your attention, everybody is going to shut the hell up and sit their asses down. The Tesseract is still out there and we haven't got a clue where it is or where they'll try to open that damn portal to freaking Narnia." He glared at everyone in the room, but softened when he hit Banner, who was looking mildly horrified at who he'd thought to be a rather laid back person that liked to joke around.

He smiled thinly at them all. "Now, why don't you children go and be _useful_ for a change instead of looking for trouble that isn't here."

"You don't make the orders-" Fury cut in.

"Actually Nick, I think you'll find I just did. Now, _get out._ "

Everyone looked stunned, but pulled themselves out of it and began to leave. Well, Fury stormed off, already speaking to Agent Hill while Thor and Natasha left the room. Rogers was still standing there, staring at Tony intently.

Tony gave an irritated huff. "Well?" He asked impatiently.

"How do you know it was messing with our heads?" Steve asked, still scrutinizing him intently, suspicious. He felt Banner's curiosity peak behind him, but he didn't say anything.

Brown eyes rolled. "Because I have a brain, unlike some people." He gave a pointed look at the blond, who pursed his lips, anger rising again. "Bruce probably noticed something was off but since it was affecting the Other Guy it was kind of hard for him to say anything."

"Stark-"

Suddenly an explosion rocked the ship, Hill's voice heard over the speaks saying engine three was down. Glancing at Bruce, who seemed fine, just a little shaken and a touch green around the gills, he took off towards where his suit was kept. The heavy thumping following indicated Rogers had decided to tag along.

They quickly made their way to the engine and Tony instantly began conferring with JARVIS to fix the problem. He somehow managed to get Cap to help with the relays while he went in to give the turbine a jump-start, ignoring the others outburst of getting shredded and giving him a lever to pull.

He used his telekinesis to help him get it moving faster. It was a strain, he'd never used it this way before on such a scale. His head ached but he finally managed to get it up to speed so that the carrier began to stabilize. Then, after escaping the fate of shredded cheese, he sensed a burst of distress from Rogers, and barrelled into the attacker and flopped down on his back, still battered from getting caught between the rotors and nursing the aftereffects of having not used his other mutant ability like that in so long. He couldn't really be blamed, he hadn't been able to use it while the reactor was slowly killing him. He suspected that it was because Palladium poisoning can affect brain chemistry or something. He was lucky it didn't do more damage than it did.

And then, as if his life just couldn't get any worse, Agent was dead. It was possible Fury was lying, his emotions were slightly contradicting, but it could be that Agent was in critical condition and could die at any moment. For some reason, that did nothing to comfort him.

After another confrontation with Rogers, claiming they were _soldiers_ of all things. The sheer arrogance! Maybe the spy twins and he were soldiers, and Thor was a warrior prince, but him? He was just a guy with a high-tech suit and a lot of money and brains to match. Bruce just wanted out because he didn't want to fight, because he _knew_ that if he did, he'd win. It was the whole point of him staying away from soldiers and organisations like SHIELD.

He was no _soldier_ and he refused to be one.

But at least he knew where the portal was going to be.

~~~

And somehow, he ends up on his way back to New York, figuring out that Stark Tower is probably where Loki's going to be. On the way there, he remembered something very important and had JARVIS put a call through.

"Hello?" A voice answered on the fifth ring. Tony smiled despite himself.

"Hey Charles."

"Tony, it's good to hear from you. What's the occasion?"

"The occasion is alien army about to appear in New York. I'm headed there now, my team ain't far behind. I'm calling because I need you to keep the kids inside. We think it's going to open over my tower, but we don't know how big or how many. And the fight may very well make it near you."

"I could gather my team-"

"No." Tony interrupted firmly. "No, if the fight does come to you you're going to need everyone to protect those kids. Just- stay safe, okay?" His voice goes quiet at the end, and he couldn't help the lump that grew in his throat.

"Tony? What's wrong?"

He cleared his throat. "No, no. I'm fine. Just been an... _emotional_ few days. Oh, did I tell you Captain America is alive?" He tries to force some cheer into his voice, even though he knows the older man will recognize it as such.

"He's alive?" Charles exclaims in surprise.

"Yep. And you know what's even better? He adores Howard and hates my guts. First things he ever said to me were hostile. I just gotta assume he read the file SHIELD gave him. Knew who I was before he even met me." He drawls.

"Oh Tony. I can see why that would be trying for you. Were there any... problems?"

"One. But Brucie pulled me out before it got too bad. Guys a saint, you should meet him. And the Hulk is adorable, I really wanna know how he thinks. The way he emotes is like an overprotective toddler. I can't imagine his thought process." There's a manic tone to his voice and large grin, but Charles chuckles.

"I assume this is Bruce Banner? Whom you have been just _dying_ to meet?" He teases. Tony grumbles indignantly at him.

Then the tower is in the distance as he zooms in to have a look and he catches sight of Loki. Suddenly all humour leaves him. He swallows. "Hey Professor?" He starts hesitantly.

"Yes Tony?"

"I'm about to have a talk with a _very_ dangerous person who will probably kill me and it'd be really nice if I could have a friend on hold just in case-" He rambles nervously, edging on slightly hysterical.

"Tony-"

"-just in case because it would be really horrible-"

"Ton-"

"-and I know it's terrible of me to ask because then you'd probably hear me die and that's just cruel of me and selfish and _ohgodI'msuchaterriblepersonI'msorry_ -"

" _Tony_!"

"...yeah?" He squeaks.

"It's alright Tony, just take a breath and calm down. I'll stay by the phone, okay?"

"Okay." He replied, relief in his voice. "Alright, landing now. Gotta take the suit off, it's too damaged. J? Prep the Mark VII. Skip the spinning rims, we're on the clock." He takes a deep breath. "Wish me luck Professor."

"Good luck, Tony."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry! I meant to update this a few days ago, but I never got the chance because school :P Then I had to go and get stitches. Local anesthesia hurts like a bitch, avoid it at all costs kiddies, especially when the doctor isn't at all concerned about being gentle. *grumbles*
> 
> Anyway, sorry again, because this is the last pre-written chapter I have. I'll be writing more as often as I can, but obviously, school work comes first in my final year, so I can't really promise a time frame until the next update.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter anyway? :)

Bantering with the God of Mischief was kinda fun, in a terrifying I-could-end-you-at-any-moment kind of way. He was witty, which Tony appreciated, and he'd be lying to himself if that smile wasn't killing him. Sure, it was scary, but he could imagine a genuine one in its place and _damn_.

He offered a drink while he slipped on his suit bracelets and continued to banter. Somehow, they ended up standing rather close and then _holy shit he touched me with the Glow Stick of Destiny shit I'm screwed- wait._ But nothing happened. He quipped, once again courting Death, before being promptly defenestrated from his own damn tower. 

Now that was just rude.

The fight was long. The Chitauri individually weren't a problem, but the way they operated made them appear like a hive-minded species, and so, like any hive-minded species, they swarmed.

It was long and hard, Tony used his ability a lot less cautiously. In the chaos, nobody would be looking for mutant abilities, too busy focussed on the first aliens that properly came to Earth. And that they were trying to kill everyone. No the best first encounter, if he was honest. Thor didn't really count as a first encounter, the incident was pretty covered up by SHEILD. 

Well, at least now they could shove this in the faces of all those stupid enough to think that the Earth was the only planet in the universe with life on it.

~~~

They were winning, they could close the portal-

And then there was the nuke. It was enough to level Manhattan and make New York uninhabitable for hundreds of years- which could not happen. Eight point four million people lived in New York City. That's a lot of people dead, injured or misplaced for a very long time. Not to mention nuclear fallout.

"Stark! You know that's a one-way trip?" Steve shouts. Tony doesn't respond.

He grabbed the nuke. It was rigged to a timer, but it was heavy and determined to hit his tower. He pushed, used all the suit could give, then he pushed with his power and nearly screamed when it felt like someone had taken Thor's hammer to his skull. Maybe he did, he couldn't be sure, but it worked, he was flying vertically towards the portal. He could see space- not his space. It wasn't the same stars or nebula in their solar system, hell, even the next three surrounding it. It was someone else's galaxy.

"Would you like to make a call, Sir?"

"Call Charles." He grunted, licking fresh blood from his top lip and breathing roughly.

 _"Tony!_ " The man cried out, barely letting the phone ring once before it connected.

"Hey Charles..."

"Tony what are you doing?!"

"It's a nuke, Charles, I can't let it hit... I'm sorry. I don't have much time. I just want you to know that I'm so thankful for everything you've done for me even if I don't deserve it. You and Ororo. Tell her that, would you? You guys are the closest thing to a family I have, to parents, after Jarvis died." He chokes out as fast as he can, tears falling freely down his face.

"Tony... you were my family too, I'm sure Ororo feels the same." The man's voice was strained, obviously crying.

"Yeah... Hey, look after the bots for me? And JARVIS? Charles will look after you, the kids will love you guys, I'm sure of it."

"Of course, Sir, anything." JARVIS sounded so sad, it was such a pure sound of grief that came into his tone that proved to Tony, even if he hadn't already known from the beginning, that JARVIS was just as human as anyone, even more so. And he hated himself because JARVIS would witness him die.

"I promise, Tony."

The portal loomed closer and Tony's breath caught in his throat. There was a giant ship directly above him and his fingers felt numb, his chest cold and tight with fear.

"Charles-!" His voice cracked as emotion overwhelmed him, the full force of his approaching death hitting him.

"Tony, it's alright. Never forget that I lo-." The connection crackled with static and ended.

"Thank you, Sir, for everything." JARVIS managed to cut in through the static before the suit lost power and he fell away from the nuke, limply, while it continued forwards. Tony's eyes bulged as he watched in rapt horror as the nuke grew closer to detonation. With the last of his strength, as his lungs tried to pull in air that was no longer there, he _shoved_. With all the power he had left he _pushed_ and the nuke flew forwards the last bit of distance and hit the ship.

There was a bright flash and a split second of sound as gasses were released from the explosion before there was pure silence, nothing but the darkness of space and a sky full of fire rapidly expanding back to the still open portal.

Tony felt his eyes closing, barely registering the feeling of falling as he was drawn back towards the portal. His eyes closed and blackness overtook him just as he passed through, gravity snatching him back towards the ground with a determined grip.

~~~

Charles watched through the news broadcast as Tony vanished through the portal. The phone hung limply in his hand, still by his ear. Tears rolled down his cheeks when there was a long moment where nothing happened, then the alien invaders all collapsed dead and the portal was closing.

Charles wanted to scream and rage- then a small red and gold figure fell just as the portal closed and the old telepath choked in relief. But then he realised the suit wasn't slowing down and his horror returned full force.

~~~

Hulk could see Metal Man- no, Metal Friend, Puny Bruce told him, falling. Puny Bruce liked Metal Friend. Hulk liked Metal Man- Friend too. Metal Friend make Puny Bruce feel not sad. Make Puny Bruce not scared of Hulk so much. Make Puny Bruce listen to Hulk more. Metal Friend wanted to give Hulk and Puny Bruce home. So Hulk wait for Metal Friend to stop falling. To fall but not fall with the glow hands and feet like before.

But Metal Friend did not stop falling the wrong fall. Hulk was confused, Metal Friend could fall with the glow hands and feet. Why was he wrong falling? Metal Friend was getting too close to ground, still not falling right, so Hulk jump and catch Metal Friend and stopped the wrong fall with Hulk and tall smashable thing then slide on hard ground.

Hulk drop Metal Friend off Hulk's chest so Hulk could stand. Hulk couldn't see Metal Friend's face until Hammer Man took away some of Metal Friend's metal. Metal Friend's eyes were closed and Hulk could not smell his breath, only odd metal smell from smeared red on Metal Friend's face.

Puny Bruce was very sad. Puny Bruce say Metal Friend gone, he say Metal Friend not come back again. That Metal Friend couldn't. Hulk frowned.

No, Hulk told Puny Bruce, Metal Friend was not allowed to be gone. Metal Friend like Puny Bruce and even like Hulk too. Hulk roar at Metal Friend, he was not allowed to go anywhere without Hulk or Puny Bruce, so Hulk roar to tell him to come back and stay with Hulk and Puny Bruce.

~~~

Tony gasped as he started awake, chest clenching painfully as the Arc Reactor flickered back to life and resumed keeping shrapnel away from his heart. His vision was blurry and noise swirled by his ears like they were stuffed with cotton balls while under water. He coughed, taking as deep a breath as he could manage in the suit.

There were figures looming above him and for the life of him, Tony couldn't place why they seemed familiar. Then there was a deep, slightly inhuman grunt that made him jolt, eyes snapping towards the sound as he couldn't turn his head.

All he could make out was a huge lump of... green. Why was the green familiar? Did he know a green thing as tall as a truck?

"Hulk...?" He slurred, out of breath, squinting up at said green thing.

There was a guttural grunt before, "Metal Friend back. Hulk say no gone. Hulk say Metal Friend stay."

Tony blinked, mind sluggishly churning through what that could mean. Hulks limited vocabulary could either be a blessing or a burden. Right now it was the latter and at the moment he was too tired to try and figure out what the behemoth meant.

He looked back at the others before his lack of brain to mouth filter made its appearance. Sue him, he probably had a concussion and just melted his brains throwing a nuke into the Mothership like some botched reenactment of Independence Day or some shit.

"Did some kiss me?" He babbled. "Please tell me no one kissed me."

"We won." Was his only reply. As his vision begins to focus again, he thinks that was Rogers that spoke, but he can't be sure.

He slumped back in relief, staring up at the blue, giant-ass-portal-free sky.

"Wooo!" He cheered as best he could, still breathless. "Great job guys. Let's just, not go in tomorrow."

"We're not finished yet, we still have Loki to deal with." Rogers reminded them and Tony sighed.

"Right, help me up Big Guy." The Hulk grunted and used one hand to carefully set Tony on his feet, who swayed and stumbled back into the large hand when his head span.

They carefully made their way back to the tower. Rogers was giving Hulk wary, mistrustful looks every time he made a sound or moved a little faster than what the Captain deemed suitable in his patriotic blond little head.

Tony sighed tiredly and glanced up at his green hero. (The guy had kept him from becoming Tony "pancake" Stark, definitely his green hero, pride be damned.)

The poor guy was upset at the Captains looks and each one was making him draw back from Tony with increased nerves as much as he could while still providing support with his big green finger.

He had an underlying mist of anger, but that was fine. Most people did. He was also a little scared, to Tony's surprise. Looking deeper, he could feel Bruce 'just in the other room', also feeling scared and a little resigned.

Tony huffed to himself. Well, this was just getting stupid. Rogers could be an ass all he liked, but Tony wasn't going to let it slide any longer.

Taking a deeper than necessary breath, he purposely stumbled over a large bit of rock and lurched forward with a small yelp that caught the others' attention.

Faster than most thought possible, a large green hand appeared in front of him to stop his fall, accompanied by a sharp bolt of alarm from the owner of said green hand.

"Thanks Green Bean." He huffed, leaning heavily on the hand. Hulk made an uncertain noise in the back of his throat.

"Metal Friend hurt?" He rumbled, concern sparking around him.

Tony shook his head and pulled away. "Nope. Fine. I'm all good. Nothing wrong her-" Just as he took a step to continue walking, his leg actually buckled and if it weren't for the Hulk once again, he didn't think he would have been able to get back up.

"Metal Friend lie. Hurt." Hulk growled at him in disapproval, a frown creasing his dirt crusted face.

Tony pulled a face. "Well unless you're going to carry me you can just- ak!"

The next thing he knew he was being cradled against a very warm, very large green chest. Well.

He'd done stranger things. Probably. 

He cleared his throat and shifted in Hulks arms. "Right. This works too. Mush! Onward good steed! We ride to Mordor!"

Clint huffed in amusement and continued walking. Rogers looked as if he was about to say something but Tony sent him a hard look.

The next half hour was spent making their way back up to the penthouse of Tony's tower. It was slow going as everyone was exhausted to the bone, not to mention the injuries they may or may not have been sporting.

The wonder twins were leaning on each other for support. Natasha was limping and Tony could see a few small glass shards in Clint's skin. Thor seemed fine. Hulk was, well, Hulk and still carrying him like a doll. Rogers had an arm around his middle. There was a scorch mark on his suit so it looked like he might've been shot by the Chitauri weapons at some point during the battle.

When they finally made it to the penthouse, Tony walking on his own once again, a severely battered Loki was pulling himself out of a Loki-shaped hole in his floor. He kept shaking his head and touching it absently, almost as if making sure it was still there.

As they approached, still unnoticed despite how much noise they must be making, Tony could feel the foggy oppressive emotions no longer. The god was confused, relieved and exhausted.

Despite the moves of protests behind him, Tony walked right up to Loki as he turned to lean himself against the steps. He froze in his movements when he noticed Tony. Green eyes. Thank whoever in the sky above that Tony was right about that one.

"Hey Reindeer Games," He greeted, sitting down next to the dazed God of Mischief, who just stared at him like he was insane.

"Stark, what are you _doing?!_ " Rogers hissed at him. Loki either didn't hear or didn't care because he kept staring at Tony like he had three heads and a large, unnoticed, spider on each one.

Tony ignored him and turned back to Loki. "So, now that you're back, let's say we hear your side of the story, because honestly, we know nothing about you. Except you're Thor's little bro. Adopted, and possibly evil. But that last one is up for debate, so spill."

Loki's stare got larger, he began to open and close his mouth, a frown slowly catching up to his emotions. Confusion was everywhere right now and Tony was getting a little worried. That much confusion couldn't be a good sign.

"I..." Loki started finally, before stopping. This close Tony could see the deep bruises under his eyes. The sickly pallor of his naturally pale skin. There was an excess of sweat on his forehead and temples. By all accounts, he looked like death.

Then Thor, with all his wisdom, growled and grabbed Loki by the throat and lifted him into the air. Tony heard a small choke from the now green-eyed god as his airway became restricted, hands instinctively trying to pry Thor's hand from his throat, legs swinging beneath him.

"Brother, you will tell us why you have done this and then you will face justice for your crimes in Asgard." Thor growled, knuckles whitening. Loki's eyes bulged and he convulsed in the grip, desperate for air as he desperately tried to pry the hand away to no avail.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" He exclaimed then, standing up. "Thor, put him the fuck down! You're going to kill him! And for fucks sake, _look at his eyes!_ Do you not remember anything I told you _literally this morning?_ "

Thor snarled at him for a moment before his words sunk in and he stopped, turning back and looking intently at his brother's eyes, which were starting to droop from lack of air. The thunderer started and abruptly released his hold on Loki, who collapsed to the floor with great heaving gasps.

Tony glared viciously at Thor, then at the others, as if daring them to say or do anything more. He knelt by Loki and helped him into a better breathing position. The raven-haired god flinched and tensed, but after a moment allowed Tony to reposition him while he caught his breath.

"You alright?" Tony asked once he was sure Loki had his breath back. Green eyes turned to him, as if only just remembering he was there and stared at him incredulously. Tony huffed with a slight upturn of his lips. "Right, stupid question, sorry."

Loki started at the sorry, but moved to try and mask the expression. Lot of good it did when Tony could still feel exactly what the god was feeling.

He turned to look at the others, plus one unconscious Bruce, who was being supported by Rogers. "Right, you lot, get out. JARVIS will direct you to rooms and medical if you need it."

"Like hell we're leaving you alone with him!" Clint snarled.

Tony pulled a condescending smile on his face. "Oh, I'm sorry, but that wasn't a request. I need you all gone and Thor's staying, because he could snap me in half if I tried to get rid of him, he's also a prince. You are not and this is my tower so if I tell you to scram, you do as you're damn well told."

"You have no right-" Natasha started but Tony cut her off.

"Yes, I do. I just flew a fucking nuke into space because SHEILD decided that killing eight point four million was a good idea. You need to help Barton get that glass out of him or it's going to get infected or forgotten. Now leave, before I make you leave."

There was a moment of stubborn stillness before Rogers turned and left with Bruce. The spy twins gave him one last vicious glare before following.

Tony sighed and turned back to Loki, who was once again staring at him. "What?" He asked, then glanced up at Thor, who was sporting a similar expression. When no answer was forthcoming, he sighed again and pulled Loki to his feet.

He tried to lead him towards the sofa but as soon as the god took one step his knees buckled and his full weight was left on Tony. Damn this guy was heavy. Without thinking, he sent a little burst of power to help lift the weight. It did, but his head screamed at him the instant he did.

He cried out in pain and held his head. He could feel blood dripping from his nose and his brain felt like it was on fire.

One moment he was still the only thing holding Loki up, the next the god was shoved to the ground and Thor was holding his face and shouting at him _which was really so helpful, **thank you so fucking much Thor.**_

"Man of Iron! What has Loki done to you? Tell me and he will pay!"

Tony hissed in pain and forced his eyes to open again. His vision was blurry and he had to blink a few times to clear it.

" _Loki_ didn't do a damn thing Thor, fucks sake. I was just being an idiot. I overstrained myself." He grit out, purposely vague. "And it would be really nice if you would stop beating up your damn brother and stop _shouting in my face_."

He shoved away from Thor and walked back over to Loki and helped him to stand. The god was looking at him with curiosity, probably trying to figure out what caused the overstrain.

"Come on, Lokes. Can you walk? Lean on me if you have to, but I'm not that strong and the suit is too damaged to take all your weight."

Loki nodded and leant against him, but managed to stumble along on his own. They finally made it to the couch, which had been quite close but took forever to get to.

He helped Loki sit down on the soft furniture and almost instantly some of the tension drained from his body, eyes drooping closed with heavy exhaustion.

Tony let him be for now and began to manually remove his armor with the hidden release latches. It didn't take too long but by the time he was done, Thor had seated himself just across from Loki, who's eyes were only open to small slits, obviously trying not to fall asleep.

Grabbing a napkin from the bar, he pressed it to his nose and flopped down beside the god, who started awake and turned to face him warily.

"Alright, let's try this again, Lokes." He began, pulling the bloodied tissue away to inspect it with a grimace. He was about to speak again when a small voice did before him.

"Your ears and bleeding as well." Loki croaked. His voice was weak and scratchy. It sounded like he hadn't had anything to drink for a long time, which was odd considering how strong his voice had been before.

Pushing the thought to the side, he pressed a finger to his ear and indeed there was blood there. It wasn't fresh, so it must be drying from when he went through the portal.

"Huh, thanks." He wiped at it a bit, but eventually gave up and just leant against the sofa.

"So, what happened, Loki?" He asked, turning his head to look at the person in question. Loki frowned, confusion, and a lot of it again.

"I... I fell..." He tried, then frowned, shaking his head. Thor looked like he was about to object so Tony raised a hand to silence him. He needed to hear Loki's version. "No... I let go." He corrected after a minute.

"Let go of what, Loki?" Tony prodded gently.

"The spear." He said, still frowning. He went to speak again but coughed harshly, covering his mouth with a dirty palm. It came away bloody.

"Shit!" Tony cursed, getting quickly to his feet and pouring a glass of water and grabbing a handtowel to wet with warm water. Both gods were looking at him oddly as he hurried back over and placed the towel down.

"Here," He said, handing Loki the glass. A shaking hand reached to grab it, eyes locked onto the liquid inside before he apparently caught himself and snatched his hand back, taking a shuddering breath that led to more coughing.

Tony frowned, but decided he was going to have to improvise if Loki wouldn't- or couldn't take the water for himself. So he shifted closer and gently gripped Loki's hair and tilted his head a little so he could drink. Loki went absolutely rigid in the light hold but Tony forced himself to pay no mind and brought the glass to chapped lips.

The effect was instantaneous. Whatever control Loki had had before was gone now that the water was dripping slowly into his mouth. He gulped greedily at the water and gave a pitiful whine when Tony was forced to pull it away and force him to drink more slowly.

"Slow down, buddy, you have to drink slowly, you'll make yourself sick otherwise. Water's not going anywhere, I'm not going to take it from you." He said softly. Loki's eyes flicked over to him and reluctantly lowered his hands, which had been trying to overpower Tony's tilt of the glass.

It wasn't long before the glass was finished and Tony placed it down and picked up the still wet towel. He slowly raised it to Loki's face and carefully began to wipe away the blood and dirt. It was then Thor decided to speak up.

"Brother, why do you not simply heal yourself?" He asked, suspicion interwoven around him as he looked at his brother. Loki gave a glare, but didn't really pull it off and gestured to his right ankle.

Thor frowned and went to stand, but Loki pulled away and into the couch. Tony held up a hand.

"It's alright, Point Break, I'll have a look. If that's alright?" He added, looking at Loki, who nodded once.

The billionaire crouched down by Loki's feet and cautiously took his right leg and felt it. Down by his ankle was a strange bump, and after a quick check of the other leg, he found it was only on the right.

He worked to remove the boot and lift the leather away from it and he paused at what he saw. It was a thick ring of metal encircling Loki's upper ankle, about four centimeters wide and two thick. There were strange markings on the device, for that's obviously what it was, and it glowed green around the markings.

"What is this?" He asked, turning to Loki, who was looking away, so he looked to Thor, whose face had paled.

"It is a restraint. It prevents magic from leaving the body and traps it there, weak and useless. Any lower user of Seidr would have no use at all, or would be too weak to stand. This design is none I have ever seen, and it is powerful." His eyes filled. "Loki... who did this to you?"

Loki opened his mouth to speak, but the device flared red and he quickly shut his mouth with a grimace of pain.

"First things first, we gotta get this off you. JARVIS, can you get Dum-E to bring me a laser cutter and my tools?"

"Of course sir." There was a pause, almost hesitant. "And, if I might say, it is good to see you alive and well."

Tony smiled, looking directly at one of JARVIS' cameras. "Thanks, JARVIS." He paused, smile dropping. "Shit! J, remind me to call Charles as soon as there's a chance. He probably thinks I'm dead."

He glanced at the gods, who were looking at him in confusion. "Sorry, I called him as I went through the portal." Thor nodded and made an 'ah' sound, while Loki nodded in acceptance.

"Certainly, Sir."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, writing again, sorry about the wait. I’ve got a new baby cousin and she’s so small (5 pounds 10 ounces), so writing has been hard the past couple weeks, not even mention end of term assignments before that. Then I had my grade 12 camp and, you guessed it, more assignments! So again, so sorry about the wait. And sorry if the chapter seems a little like a filler, I don’t think it is, but it felt a little like it while I was writing.
> 
> *throws cookie at you* Have a damn cookie because you’re worth it. *flips hair dramatically, flinging cookies everywhere like freaking confetti because logic*
> 
> Damn I’m tired…

Thankfully, the private elevator had somehow survived the invasion, so his bot would be able to get up to the penthouse. Actually, his tower was in pretty good shape considering it had been the epicentre of the portal. Then again, wouldn’t exactly want to destroy the only thing making sure the invasion continues. So, now that he thought about it, not that surprising.

Mentally shaking his head to clear his thoughts, because he did not want to pass out thank-you-very-much by _actually_ shaking his head, he returned his focus to the band around the dark-haired gods ankle. The area around it was bloody and rubbed raw. Shifting it slightly, he could make out burn marks. There was some newly inflamed flesh over obviously old wounds of similar or worse nature, and Tony assumed that was what caused Loki to stop trying to speak.

Rubbing his chin, he gently felt around the device, mindful of the sensitive areas. There was no clasp and he couldn’t see or feel any sort of seam in the metal. So it couldn’t have been welded onto him, or there would be _something_.

Sighing in frustration, he sat back. Thor was still trying to get answers out of Loki, who kept his mouth resolutely shut in a thin line, facing away from his adoptive brother. It was obvious Loki _wanted_ to answer, it was more of a matter of whether or not he _could_ without pain that was causing the issue.

It made Tony want to kill, because it was akin to a shock collar used for training dogs and Tony _really fucking hated_ comparing what this looked like with Loki to abusively training dogs through fear and pain, then _anticipation_ of pain.

Thor, apparently, did not seem to grasp the concept.

Thankfully, Dum-E arrived not long after with a bout of whirs and chirps, an overfull toolbox held precariously in his claw. His claw was low to the ground as he carefully picked his way around the rubble, the familiar sound of his servos shifting as he realigned his wheels and attempted to avoid anything that would get stuck under him. Then, he’d nearly made it to them when two large chunks of wall blocked his way. It was only just too small of a gap for his frame to fit through.

The bot paused, letting out a sound not unlike a whine of dismay and frustration, moving his arm to try and find an alternate route. Tony watched, amused, as he backed up, went a little to the left, then to the right, before coming back to the initial problem.

When the bot finally deigned to look up, Tony was staring at him with a raised brow and a small smirk. Dum-E whirred and chirped rather pathetically, somehow managing to look like a kicked puppy with just his metal claw head and arm.

Shaking his head in fond exasperation, Tony levered himself up and made his way over to the bot, ignoring Loki’s curious gaze and Thor’s tense stance, as if he expected Dum-E to attack. Tony only just held back a scoff and the ridiculousness of it. Dum-E didn’t even have his fire extinguisher.

“Dummy, I swear, you are the most useless hunk of metal I have ever seen.” He told the bot as-a-matter-of-factly, who whined and dropped his head sadly, obviously playing at feeling rejected. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. You know it’s true. Now hand me the toolbox, and let’s hope you brought the right stuff. Thank you- What? Dummy, what is this? Dummy, why is there a party popper in here? Where did you even find- do I even want to know? I’ve never had these in my tower- or Malibu. What? Why are you looking at me like that? This? The popper? You want it-? No? Then what- you want _me_ to pop it? Dummy, I swear- no.

“No, I will not fall for that. I am immune, that has no effect on me whatsoever. None. You cannot use The Eyes, because you don’t have eyes, you idiot. You are a bucket of bolts that somehow moves. You have a claw. You are an arm on wheels. You cannot do The Eyes to me. I am immune- oh fine. Fine I’ll pop the damn thing.”

\---

After the brief distraction, he finally managed to get Dum-E to head back down to the shop, claw now adorned with colourful bits of paper streamers. Shaking his head with a smile he turned back around and froze.

Thor was looking and feeling confused and worried, like he thought Tony was insane or something. Loki, meanwhile, was gazing at him tiredly with curious eyes and a small smile barely stretching his lips far enough to be noticeable. If it weren’t for the split lip that had reopened and was bleeding again, Tony would have probably missed it.

Clearing his throat and adjusting his toolbox, he pointed at Thor. “I’m not crazy, promise. Just don’t ask, I doubt you’d understand.”

Thor drew back, offended and annoyed. Loki was subtly amused next to Tony.

Once again, Tony knelt and gently took Loki’s ankle and rested it on his raised knee. “Alright, I’m going to try and disrupt one of these symbol things. Would that work?” He asks, looking to Loki, who nodded hesitantly, tensing as if bracing for pain that thankfully didn’t come.

“’Kay. If this hurts, freaks you out, or anything, tell me and I’ll stop. I don’t want to screw this up and somehow blow up your leg. That would be highly unfortunate.” Loki scoffed quietly above him at ‘unfortunate’, causing Tony to grin.

Looking back over at his tools, he shifted a few things around in search of the laser cutter. Dum-E, it seemed, had tried to fit all of his favourite tools plus a few random bits and bobs in the box. Tony wouldn’t be surprised if there was a trail of tools from the workshop to the penthouse.

With a small noise of triumph, he pulled out the smallish handheld device and checked it over for damage, just in case. He really didn’t want to blow up his hands right now. He needed those.

Finding no damage, he turned back to Loki, who had gone stiff once the tool was in his hand. There was fear there, but he wasn’t telling Tony to stop so, smiling encouragingly, he gently squeezed the gods leg just above the ankle in an attempt to reassure. Slowly, the tension bled out of Loki’s shoulders, but not completely.

“Hey Thor?” Tony looked over his shoulder at the blonde Ken doll who was still sitting in his chair, still bloody and dirty from the battle. Thor met his eyes in acknowledgment. “Why don’t you go take a shower or something? Clean yourself up a bit.”

“Man of Iron, I do not think-“

“No, no. I insist. Look, I’ll be fine. Besides, I’m Loki’s only chance of getting this thing off. No-one in their right mind would do anything to screw up their only chance like that.” Tony paused, then glanced at Loki sheepishly, who was looking at him with an imperiously raised eyebrow, emotions screaming amusement. “Well, mostly in their right mind, I mean. Partially in their right mind, even.”

Thor protested for a few minutes more, but eventually Tony managed to persuade him to leave and check in with the rest of the ‘team’ after he was finished cleaning up, citing absolute bullshit and made-up ‘Midgardian customs’ that Thor’s princely side could not refuse.

Now that he and Loki were alone, Tony twisted the band and looked for the best place to disrupt the runes. Steadying the leg with his hand, he turned on the cutter. It began to hum and the tip heated until it turned red. He had adjusted the settings on the modified tool so that it would be used almost like a pen.

Carefully, Tony brought the tip to the edge of one of the green runes and pressed. The metal started to scorch black from the heat but otherwise didn’t damage the band. Flicking his thumb, he switched it to a higher setting and tried again.

Eventually, he flicked it to full power after several failed attempts, the ankle held close to his chest to better steady it. The tip went white hot and began to smoke. This time, when he pressed it to the band, he saw the metal start to give way. Which was great because this tool went _really_ hot and Tony didn’t think anything other than a full powered blast from his chest reactor could gain anymore heat than what he already had.

The green flickered and Loki went stiff again, leg twitching in his grasp as he hissed in pain. Unfortunately, Tony couldn’t let up lest it cool again. Loki wasn’t really protesting so he tried not to feel too guilty and ignored any emotional input he was receiving as best he could.

It was the work of ten minutes before he finally did it. The green flickered and vanished, leaving a damaged black rune mark in its wake. Sighing in relief, Tony turned off his tool and dropped it back in the toolbox.

The relief was short lived however when Loki seized up and began to hyperventilate, fingers ripping through the couch, long slender fingers white knuckled and locked in place. Tony’s mind was overwhelmed suddenly with a flood of… of _something_ and he gripped his head, mentally flailing to slam down his walls.

When Tony was next able to think again, he found himself lying on his couch, his pounding migraine back with renewed vigour. He groaned and brought his hand to his face, paused when he felt fresh blood drying under his nose.

“Are you well?” Loki’s voice croaked from beside him. Tony turned his head and squinted at Loki’s face. He grunted something like affirmation and tried to sit up on his own, only to almost pass out again when his vision greys at the edges, Loki’s arms the only thing stopping him from braining himself on the coffee table when he lurched at an angle in the attempt.

Loki gives him a Look that clearly says he thinks Tony is full of shit despite him not having actually said anything. “What happened, Stark? I don’t think I did anything but-“

Tony waved his hands around to stop Loki from continuing and closes his eyes for a moment. “No, it’s fine. Wasn’t you. Well, it was, but it wasn’t anything you did, or you did but- I should just stop talking.”

Loki frowned, confusion and strangely enough, concern echoing in Tony’s already pounding head. “I don’t understand.”

“Don’t worry about it. I have a thing, and when I broke the rune and you started to freak out or whatever, it triggered the thing.” He groaned again and flopped backwards, staring up at the ceiling. “My head is murdering me slowly and meticulously. Lo, you need to put me out of my misery or something.” He whined, overly dramatically, grinning to himself when Loki chuckled.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad, Stark.” He chided the billionaire, much to Tony’s private amusement. He quickly sobered, however, squeezing his eyes shut with a pained groan as his head pounded viciously at his eyeballs.

“No, Lo, really. I’m not even kidding. I feel like your brutish bro took his damn hammer to my skull like a jackhammer, then stuck the handle into the mush and swirled.”

Loki frowned, and seemed to sober at that, his face actually showing a lot of his concern. To be honest, with that comparison, the god probably has the best idea as to exactly how painful it must be. “If you are really in pain, I could… never mind.”

“Loki? If you can do something, please do. I don’t think I could survive hearing Thor’s so called inside voice right now.”

Fear and apprehension. “Are you positive you would trust me so?”

“Well, not really I guess. I don’t know you that well, but the way I see it, you’ve got no real reason to hurt me since I seem to be the only one willing to point out the whole mind control thing.”

Loki considered him for a long moment before tentatively reaching out with a shaking hand and rested it on Tony’s forehead. There was a faint green light where the blessedly cool hand rested and seconds later, his migraine had vanished.

The billionaire sighed in relief and slumped down further into the couch, instantly missing the cool hand once Loki removed it.

“Holy shit.” He breathed, blinking and trying to get used to the lack of pounding. “Thanks, Lo. I don’t know how that mojo of yours works, but you have to show me more sometime.”

Loki stared at him blankly, confusion and astonishment spiking. Tony couldn’t help but frown slightly at the raven-haired god. Had no-one shown interest in his magic before?

“Why are you doing this?” Loki asked suddenly, a hopeless sort of air around him. When Tony looked up again, he saw that Loki’s masks seem to have fallen, just leaving a sort of empty being, lost and in pain.

“Because this wasn’t your fault, and I don’t think anyone else will help you if I don’t.”

Loki’s emotions quickly began to swirl in turmoil, visibly having trouble accepting that someone else was seeing him as just another victim. “So, pity, then.”

“No, not pity. Uh, compassion. Empathy. All that emotions shit that I prefer to avoid like the plague.” _Because that works **so** well, being a fucking empath and all._

Slowly, Tony pushed himself up, wincing at the slight dizziness. Yeah, so, Migraine of Doom™ was gone, but the other side-effects of overusing his abilities was not. Nevertheless, he forced himself to stand and start towards the elevator.

Come on, Loki, let’s go down to the guest floor and sleep. Jarvis? Tell the others they’re free to spend the night on the other guest floor. And schedule a crew to come and fix my penthouse ASAP, pay them double and then contract them to help fix the city.”

“Certainly, Sir.”

Tony entered the lift as the doors opened when he approached, pulling Loki in with him by gently gripping his elbow. The god was in pain and exhausted, despite how much he was trying to keep it from showing. Honestly, that bravado shit really was useless against empaths.

Unfortunately, the brighter lighting on the somehow undamaged floor stabbed at his eyes and his headache began to return, despite what Loki had done to dispel it earlier. Hiding his discomfort like a pro, he pulled Loki to the room he’d used while the penthouse was refurbished.

“Alright,” He started, pushing the god to sit down on the bed and quickly began rummaging through his closet, settling on a pair of largish sweats and a long sleeve shirt that he thinks used to be Rhodey’s that he may or may not have stolen from him at MIT. “These should fit well enough. Shower’s through there, Jarvis can help working it if you get confused.”

After leading Loki into the shower, Tony quickly ducked out into another room to shower himself. As he peeled off his clothes, he realised his hands had begun to shake. He stared down at them for a moment before continuing to strip, Jarvis having already turned on the shower for him. He took a deep breath and held it as he lifted off his t-shirt, accidently catching sight of his scarred chest in the mirror as he did so.

Huffing harshly through his nose once, he turned his face away and carefully steeped under the blissfully hot water and began to methodically rid himself of the blood, sweat and dirt that had accumulated in the past hours.

When the time came to do his face, he grabbed a cloth and began to wipe away the blood. Most of the time he could stand to have his face under the water, but right now, with the shakes and terror of what had happened, what he had seen, beginning to settle into his bones, he didn’t trust himself to stay calm.

After cleaning his hair and drying himself, he cursed, realising he hadn’t brought a change of clothes with him. Wrapping the towel tightly around his torso, and grabbing another to sit over his shoulders just in case, he re-entered the room just in time to catch Loki finish pulling up his pants. The god froze, hands at his hips still holding the garments.

Tony paused in the act of closing the door, gaze locked onto Loki’s slender form and the lean definition of muscles. He was no Thor, but he was all muscle under that skin, despite his size. The pants were too short, resting above his ankles, but as Tony found his gaze drifting, he found himself catching bright green eyes then down to the defined chest and abbs. He was hairless, which Tony found slightly odd, but he had scars. Small silver lines that indicated old wounds. Some were still red and raised, obviously more recent, but as Tony watched he thought he saw the red fading.

The spell was broken when Loki quickly turned to grab the shirt and pull it on to cover the skin Tony had been admiring. He swallowed and forced his legs to move towards clothes. He needed clothes. Right. Fabric. Comfy fabric to cover him, so he was no longer naked, and before his libido could get any ideas. He was too tired for this shit right now.

Back to the god, he pulled out the first pair of boxers and sweats he could find, slipping them on and grabbing the nearest t-shirt and pulling that on as well, after calculating the moment he could drop the towel in order to cover everything he needed to cover.

He turned back to find Loki standing awkwardly at the end of the bed and the billionaire quickly shifted forward to lift the blankets and pull them aside. He ushered the dark-haired god under the sheets with a quick goodbye before turning to leave, when he felt a hand catch his wrist almost painfully tight.

Loki was watching him with wide fearful eyes. “Don’t go.” He whispered so quietly Tony almost missed it. Understanding the emotions- in more ways than one, he just nodded with a small smile and gently coaxed Loki to release his arm and made his way around to the other side of the bed and lay himself under the covers.

Tony hadn’t been there for very long when he felt Loki relaxing into sleep beside him. Satisfied, he was going to leave but found his body entirely unwilling now that he was lying down, swiftly pulling him into slumber as well.


End file.
